Stockholm
by Liz Hollow
Summary: Team Xana has taken over, and with everyone and everything gone, Lyra has no choice but to avenge for the people she has lost. Yet when she is found out, she finds herself sympathizing with her captor. This makes revenge a whole lot easier.
1. Chapter One

**Chapter One**

They were going to pay.

Every single one of them, down to their weakest grunts, were all going to pay.

I was never one for vengeance or revenge for the sake of revenge, but it was all beginning to bubble up inside of me. Nothing I could do could take back what those sick fools had done, but I couldn't help but feel that it would all be better if I got back at them. For all the pain they had caused me, dealing with the deaths of _every single_ person I ever loved, they were going to feel the pain tenfold. They were going to pay.

Team Xana, as they called themselves, seized control of everything. It all happened so quickly that no one had any time to react before they were all dead. The only reason I escaped was because I battled my way out; yet one of them beat me, and I sprinted away before the death sentence could be placed upon me, as well.

How they had beaten me, I didn't know. I was the most powerful Trainer in all of Johto and Kanto, Champion Lyra, and yet they got the win. There was _nothing_ I could do to protect anyone anymore, and everyone that I knew was destroyed. Anyone considered a threat, and any innocent person found to even know a powerful threat, was taken care of. Except me. I was the last hope for the world.

And this time, I wouldn't lose.

I knew how Red felt being on that mountain. I lived there for five years, training and waiting for my time to make a comeback. And it was horrible. I had never felt so alone, so secluded, and I had nothing left to fight for. No one would know if I saved the world because I was the only one left. But that didn't matter to me. Because I was going to save the world whether anyone knew or not. I would get my revenge.

My mother, Ethan, Silver, Professor Elm, Professor Oak, Red, Lance, all of the Gym Leaders—gone. No one stood the slightest chance, and if anyone fought back, they were eliminated. One moment, Ethan, Silver, and I had gone into Team Xana's headquarters to attack, determined that the three of us, with our power, could absolutely annihilate them. Just as Team Rocket had so easily been taken care of, they would, as well. But I was the only one to make it out alive. I saw Ethan's body, and Silver never came out.

So, I needed to get back in there. With my immense power and strategy, I could walk in there alone and destroy them all. It wasn't just a matter of defeating them—I wasn't going to allow them to walk away like I had with Team Rocket. I was going to _destroy_ them as they had destroyed my friends and family. No one but me would walk away alive.

And then what? If no one else was left, what was the point in going in and getting rid of them? Well, I very well couldn't let them take control of the whole world. Evil would never win, and even if my intentions were not entirely pure, I still considered myself the good person here. Because what kind of people just destroyed innocent people?

I hated them. _I hated them_. And when I got rid of them, I would be satisfied. It was a disgusting thing… revenge. Yet the idea seemed so sweet in my mind, like a little chocolate morsel. Maybe I would regret eating it later, but how much would it really hurt now? Besides, didn't Team Xana deserve it?

Like lightning, they struck at the dead of night, a flash of light followed by the screams of my fellow citizens like thunder. I was sixteen at the time, sleeping in my familiar comfortable bed after a long journey away from home. In fact, I had only been at home for about a week when Team Xana attacked my town.

No one suspected it. No one had ever heard of "Team Xana", and when they announced themselves to our town, calling out for people "brave enough to join them (or else you will perish instead)", no one moved. I thought it was a joke, and when I ran outside in my pajamas to see what the fuss was about, just one Poké Ball in hand, I didn't expect any trouble.

Until I saw the fires and truly heard the screams. I glanced around my house, seeing Fire Pokémon running rampant and setting fire to anything. Followed by them were Electric-type Pokémon, blowing up the power lines and killing all the power to all of our houses. The fires were the only source of light now, and I could barely see Ethan waving his hands at me from his house next door.

I met him halfway, sending out my faithful Noctowl to ward off the enemies. I had no idea what was happening, but I was suddenly so frightened that I hugged Ethan when he made his way over to me, whispering in his ear that I was so happy that he was alive. Of course, that had only lasted so long, and I now regretted not holding him longer.

"Who are these people? Not Team Rocket? I thought you got rid of them!" Ethan had shouted at me, yelling because we could barely hear each other above the chaos. I looked around again, seeing Trainers now. They were the ones ordering those Fire and Electric Pokémon around. They were the ones causing the pain and preventing cooperation.

"I did!" I focused harder, watching as one of the Trainers stared over at Ethan and I. He raised a hand, pointing at us, and within moments, we were surrounded by Arcanines and Raichus. I backed against Ethan, reaching for a Poké Ball in my bag when I realized Noctowl was the only one I had brought with me.

So, I did the only thing I could think of at the time. I ran. Grabbing Ethan's hand and pulling him towards my house, I fled the scene to get the rest of my team. Ethan shouted at me, but I had no idea what he was saying. And as I entered my house, I skipped steps up to my bedroom, grabbing my bag and swinging it over my shoulder. Ethan continued to say something to me, but now, I needed to stop whatever was happening. It was my duty as Champion to make sure everyone was safe—and my duty as daughter to find my mother.

She was gone. I searched the entire house, and I couldn't find her. I ran outside, looking for her there, sending out all of my Pokémon and having them take out enemies as I ran down the streets shouting for my mother with no response. Ethan ran after me, sending out his own Pokémon and calling now for Professor Elm.

Then, an eerie silence filled our town, with the only noise coming from the cackling of fires and my shouting. I turned to Ethan, gasping as I saw his body bound by a Venasaur, an attractive young man just a little older than myself standing beside it with a grin on his face. My Pokémon hurried to my side, my Typhlosion nudging my shoulder and my Umbreon licking my shaking fingers.

"Let him go."

The man's smile grew, and he snapped his fingers. Another Arcanine and Raichu hurried over to us, the Arcanine growling and the Raichu's cheeks sparking. "It is just _lovely_ meeting you, Lyra. I was actually hoping we'd run into you, and it is such a privilege to be in the presence of the young lady who defeated Indigo Plateau's Elite Four and Champion—and Team Rocket! You are quite the celebrity, you know. If we were in a less conspicuous situation, here, I would ask for your autograph. Oh, and you are _much_ prettier in person."

I made a disgusted face, and the man laughed. His shaggy black hair bounced against his forehead, covering his dark eyes for a moment. "Oh, don't be like that."

"I said, 'Let him go'. If you don't, I'll—"

The man held up a hand, and I stopped mid-sentence. "Please, save it. I'll let him go. I just need you to give me something I need, and we'll be on our way." He laughed again, covering his mouth with the same hand he held up to me. "Oh… please forgive me, Lyra. I've been so rude. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Clay of Team Xana."

I raised an eyebrow, dropping my defensive stance for only a moment. "Team Xana?"

"Yes. We're a recently formed organization who wishes to rid the world of all but Trainers who can hold their own against us. With a powerful force such as ours, we can lead the world, eliminating all confrontation and war. Then, once we rule the world, we will set our sights on the sky and space. Our scientists have discovered a way to make it beyond the Milky Way galaxy and out to Andromeda. Once we take over this galaxy, we'll take over the next. It's quite simple." Clay explained, but I was lost. I still had no idea who these people were and where they came from.

"So, in other words, you're beginning a war to end all wars? Seems a little contradictory to me." I put my hands on my hips, and my Umbreon stood closer to me. "Listen, this is silly. There will always be someone there to stop you. And that someone is going to be me. So, you might as well just give up now."

Clay clicked his tongue, wiggling a finger at me. "I don't think so. You see, we actually need you. In exchange for your buddy over here, we request that you join us. If you don't, he dies." He slid a finger across Ethan's throat, and Ethan struggled against Venasaur's vines, yelling muffled cries at me. I shivered, despite the heat of the flames surrounding us, and nodded at Clay.

"What do you need?"

"Ah, very good, very good. We want you to—argh!"

A blur shot in front of Clay, and Ethan dropped to the ground as Venasaur retracted his vines. Clay grabbed his arm, and I saw a line of blood dripping down his bicep. Losing his calm and cool demeanor, he replaced it with a grimace, so frightening that I wondered how a man his age could hold so much evil within him.

Seeing the Pokémon that had attacked Clay and freed Ethan, I couldn't manage to suppress a smile: Silver's Crobat! It flapped its purple wings before diving for another Aerial Ace attack on Clay. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Raichu getting ready to attack Crobat, and I sent Umbreon to take it out before it interfered.

"Lyra! Ethan! You all right?"

I held a thumb up to Silver as he approached the scene, but Ethan grabbed my wrist and tugged me before I could say anything. Then, grabbing my bag, he returned all of my Pokémon to my Poké Balls with the exception of Noctowl. I began yelling at him as we ran, Silver following closely behind with his Crobat, but Ethan just ignored me.

"Fly! Lyra, Fly!" Silver screamed, and I saw him take off into the air. That was what Ethan had been trying to do… But what about my mom? What about Professor Elm? I couldn't just leave them to fend for themselves. I didn't even know if they were all right _now_, never mind later. I couldn't just leave.

"Noctowl, take her," Ethan told my Noctowl, pushing me onto my bird as Noctowl swooped down. I screamed as Noctowl took off from the ground, leaving Ethan behind. Silver flew beside me, his face completely somber as I yelled for Ethan, pleading for Noctowl to go back down. But even Noctowl wouldn't listen to me now.

"Don't worry. Ethan will make it. Have faith in him, Lyra," Silver simply said with a stoic expression, and I couldn't believe him.

Well, Ethan _did_ make it. We waited in the woods for him, and he eventually showed up after I worried for what felt like hours. But we didn't waste any time rejoicing in the fact that we had survived the first string of attacks. Instead, we flew town to town, looking to see where Team Xana had attacked. Each town we visited had been completely destroyed, all set fire to like New Bark Town had.

We made a pact to vanquish Team Xana. Despite being the only one who had made it out alive, I had failed. We all did. I lost to a Team Xana member, barely escaping their headquarters (which we had found on accident), and Ethan and Silver were not nearly so lucky. And after I made it out of the building, I waited for them to come. They never did.

I searched endlessly for someone—anyone—to help me get back into their headquarters, but I only came across Team Xana members and destroyed cities. Clay hadn't been joking when he said he would get rid of anyone who lost to Team Xana. Even I couldn't win against them… how could anyone else stand a chance?

There was not much left for me to do but train and prepare myself for my revenge. I felt so incredibly haunted and changed by everything that had happened; I abandoned my pigtails and sweet demeanor for power and determination, a bloodlust within me guiding my soul. I would get my revenge.

My team and I—Typhlosion, Umbreon, Noctowl, Dewgong, Ampharos, and Tyranitar—contained a new power, and I understood how Team Xana could be so strong. Emotions were such powerful weapons; happiness and love were all right, but anger and greed were really impressive. There was no way I could lose now.

So, coming down from Mt. Silver, I knew I would get my revenge. No one was going to stop me this time.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I write such angsty chaptered fanfictions. (But, honestly, really fluffy chaptered fics are very difficult to write for me, and they usually don't turn out well). However, I don't think this fanfiction is so much angsty as it is dark. This is just the beginning, and I even think this chapter was pretty dark.

Anyway, enjoy! I'll try to update this quickly now that NaNoWriMo is over (which I won, by the way), but my finals are coming up. So, they might be slow until around the 15th. Hopefully you won't mind too much?

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.


	2. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

Team Xana (thankfully) hadn't moved their headquarters. It was hard to forget where it was, even after five years, after being the only one of your friends who had made it out alive. Memories of that day still haunted me in my dreams, and I hadn't gotten a good night's sleep in quite some time. But that just made it easier for me to find the fortress now.

I spent most of my childhood in New Bark Town, but, as a teenager, I was always on the road. I forgot the smell of my room and the walls and the floors and the food my mom used to make for dinner. Sometimes I couldn't even remember what my house looked like, and for that, I was embarrassed and regretful. Even though I loved my journey, which eventually led me to becoming Champion and stopping Team Rocket, I wished I had spent more time at home. I wished I had spent more time at New Bark Town.

So, it was funny coming back. I felt like a child again with my hair cut in a poorly trimmed bob (since I had to do it myself, it hadn't turned out too well) that my mom used to love before I begged her to let me grow it out and got pigtails. And walking into the town feeling so lost in my surroundings, it was like coming to New Bark Town for the first time, this time without my mom to help me settle in.

I found it subtly ironic that Team Xana built their major headquarters in my hometown. That was how Ethan, Silver, and I had accidentally stumbled upon it in the first place. Ethan and I wanted to return home to see if anyone had survived and gone back to New Bark Town, but we found it abandoned—except for the underground entrance to their headquarters within Professor Elm's lab, found by moving the loose tile on the floor beside his computer.

To anyone passing by the town, Professor Elm's lab was an abandoned wreck on the verge of collapsing to the ground. But to those who knew better, like me, it was the beginning of the end for Team Xana. They left themselves vulnerable by keeping such an obvious location as their headquarters (though, since no one was left to oppose them other than me, they weren't really all that vulnerable).

I couldn't waste time looking around the remains of New Bark Town, despite how much I wanted to. I didn't have time to go find the pathetic remnants of my house, though I wouldn't recognize it even if it still existed. So, I snuck into Professor Elm's lab instead, the door creaking as I opened it and shut it behind me.

The humming of electricity flowed somewhere beneath the floors, and I tiptoed over to the computer to find the loose tile. It didn't take long to find. As soon as I stepped near the computer, a tile broke beneath me, and I fell into the floor, tripping down the long flight of wooden makeshift stairs that led to their headquarters.

"Ouch," I murmured when I reached the bottom of the stairs. The hole in the ground transformed into a beautiful room with clean white walls and marble floors. It looked like a castle, which was not what I had remembered. Back when we had first entered this base, the walls were held up with wooden panels, the floors just earth. Now it looked ornate and classy.

I stood up, rubbing my butt and making sure none of my Poké Balls had fallen off my belt. Then, stepping forward, I glanced around, making sure no intruder alarms would go off. But as I walked through the room, nothing happened. I began to feel more and more uncomfortable as I made it over to a large wooden door and opened it to reveal a long hallway. There had to be booby traps there.

Yet, again, nothing happened as I walked down the hallway, one hand on my first Poké Ball just in case. Dropping my hand from my Poké Ball, I walked all the way down the hallway, trying to find something familiar. This was all so different from when we had been there, and I felt lost in this unfamiliar territory.

I opened another door at the end of the hallway, walking into a much larger space filled with people in lab coats. Before I could shut the door and escape, someone stepped in front of me, arms crossed over her chest. Her long blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and young face made her appear innocent, but I was already scared for my life.

"You," she said to me, and even with that one word, I could tell she had a thick accent. I held my breath, hiding my Poké Balls beneath my long shirt. "What are you doing here? You should be at the Pokémon Conversion Center. What do you think you're doing coming over to the labs?" She smiled then, flipping her blonde hair. "Oh, you are interested in the progress we are making, yes? Ah, I don't blame you. The PCC seems so dreadfully boring."

"Right," I responded, smiling back at the woman. If I didn't want to die, I would just have to play along for now. I didn't know what the Pokémon Conversion Center was, but this lady obviously thought it was lame compared to the science labs. "I've always wanted to work in the labs, so I just wanted to see what was happening."

The lady laughed, flipping her hair again. "Yes, yes. Everyone wants to work in the labs. But only the best of the best work here." She stepped away from the door, allowing me into the lab space. It truly looked amazing. There were little sectors spread out around the room, and a giant spaceship in the center of the room pointed up to a hole in the ceiling.

"Over there," she said in her accent, pointing to a group of people working over test tubes, "are some of the members of previous Elite Fours throughout the world. They are quite talented. So, of course they work in the science labs! If you want to be one of us, you have to be able to hold your own against people like them. Which, well… I'm not sure you could. But I try not to judge people by their appearances, yes?" She giggled, but I continued to stare off at the group she had pointed to. I didn't recognize most of them, but I could see Will—who I had fought—among them. How could he have betrayed everyone else?

"We are finalizing the coordinates in space for our launch to Andromeda. It has taken many years, but the time has finally come for the trip out of the galaxy. In fact, we had the ability to go for quite some time, but there was one little detail stopping us from launching." She waited for my response before she continued, and I raised an eyebrow to humor her. "Time. We have to narrow the space-time continuum in order to make this trip possible. So, we're still putting the finishing touches on the equation. We'll send a simulated test run through the computers, and then we will be good to go!"

"You're not sending an actual test flight? What if it works on the computer but the actual flight doesn't work?" I asked, continuing to stare at Will. But as he glanced over at the lady and me, I dropped my gaze, hoping he wouldn't recognize me.

The lady shrugged her shoulders. "Oh well."

All the lives that could be lost through this mission… it was very possible that human bodies could not handle the change in time, and everyone aboard the flight could perish. But… well, that wouldn't be such a bad thing. It would make my revenge that much easier, especially if Clay was aboard that flight.

But what about Will? He never seemed bad to me.

"Madam Allison, you're needed," a man said, walking over to the lady and bowing. I furrowed my eyebrows, looking at the woman, Allison. Well, she was clearly an important person to Team Xana if people were bowing to her. "They found an error in the equation, and they want to see if you can find the problem."

Allison frowned, shaking her head sadly. "Can't you boys do anything right? Why must I solve all of your problems for you?" She turned back to me, giving me a small smile. "I'm sorry. It seems I must be returning to work. I advise you to do the same before one of the PCC Admins find you. They won't be happy to hear about you snooping around in the science labs. Good luck to you!" She waved at me before following the man who had summoned her, yelling at him in her thick accent, barely understandable.

I took one last look at Will before scurrying out of the room. I still didn't understand why he would want to join Team Xana. He was always so nice to me whenever I visited Lance and the others at the Indigo Plateau, and Team Xana's ideologies didn't seem particularly nice at all. In fact, they had killed thousands of people—they had even killed Lance. How could Will be all right with that? It didn't make sense.

And it didn't make sense that Allison was so _friendly_. She was clearly an Administrator of the Science Labs, considering the man had _bowed_ to her. All of the Team Rocket Admins had been cold and violent. But Allison… she seemed like a normal girl who probably had a lot going for her without Team Xana.

I just didn't get it.

I couldn't think about it now. I needed to find Clay without getting caught. So, opening another door, I glanced into the room. It was filled with Pokémon and more Pokémon, with a few humans scattered here and there in between the Pokémon and machines. Was this the Pokémon Conversion Center? This definitely wasn't there when I first came here.

Well, if Allison had thought that I came from the PCC, then perhaps I could pull it off. I was dressed just as normally as the rest of the people in the room, so maybe I could blend in and just ask someone if they knew where Clay's office was. Unless Clay was an Administrator, too… but I would be screwed if he was. I needed him alone.

"Hey, get back to work!" someone shouted at me, and I gasped, hurrying into the room. Someone pushed me towards one of the machines, but when I turned around, the person who had pushed me just blended in with the rest of the people walking around. Clearly, my disguise—which hadn't really been planned as a disguise at all—was working.

I faced the machine again, looking at the person beside me. "Excuse me," I whispered, noting that the PCC was dead quiet other than the occasional cry from a Pokémon. The man beside me stared at me with frightened eyes, and I grimaced. "Could you just tell me where I might find Clay? I need to speak to him about… er, something."

The man's eyes widened, and he shook his head violently, turning back to his machine and continuing his work in silence. I put my hands on my hips; well, that was rude. People were quite strange here in Team Xana, but with a name like that, I wasn't particularly surprised. Still, they were making my infiltration difficult.

Someone cleared his throat behind me, and I winced, pressing a button on the machine in front of me. "Nice try. I'm going to need you to come with me. We need to have a discussion with Clay about your behavior. Talking during work, loitering around, and disobeying an Admin's orders… you're causing quite a bit of trouble."

I furrowed my eyebrows as I turned around to face the Admin. That voice sounded… familiar… but I didn't know why I would know it. The only Team Xana member I knew was Clay (and now Allison, but seeing as this was a guy, it definitely wasn't her).

Looking at the man, I gasped, putting my hands over my mouth to stop myself from vomiting. Because I really just wanted to lie down and get sick. I couldn't believe who was standing in front of me, and I closed my eyes to try to erase the image now burning in front of my eyes. It _couldn't_ be him! It couldn't! He died! But when I opened my eyes back up, he was alive. He was definitely the man standing in front of me.

"Silver?" I muttered, and he looked just as shocked as I felt.

"Champion Lyra?" he asked, and I whimpered, feeling tears begin to burn in my eyes. He was alive! He was alive! I wanted to wrap my arms around him and run away with him. Because Silver was alive! Screw revenge. Silver's life was more important and more precious to me then my plan to get even.

But when he just smirked, reaching out and grabbing my wrist with painful force, I changed my mind. Like Will, he was completely different. "How interesting," Silver said, dragging me away from the machine. I resisted, trying to pull myself away from him, but he didn't even budge. Pulling me into an empty area, he closed his eyes, and within moments, like teleportation, we were in a completely different room.

What the hell was that?

* * *

**Author's Note:** Yup, you guessed it! Silver is a member of Team Xana now! What is going on with all of these good guys going bad? Will, Silver… Don't worry! All your questions will be answered eventually! (Like, why the heck did Silver just teleport like an Abra? Or, more importantly, HOW?)

Chapter three coming soon!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon!


	3. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three**

"Clay, look who I found." Silver pushed me forward, and I fell to my knees in front of a wooden desk. There was movement, and I could feel someone hovering above me. I looked up, seeing Clay's familiar smile on his handsome face. Yet I felt more disgusted than I ever had before, and I wanted so badly to reach a hand up and choke the smile off of him.

"Ah, so a single Champion remains! How delightful!" Clay exclaimed in a cheery voice, and I rose to my feet as he backed away from me, sitting on top of his desk and folding his hands. What did he mean by that? A single Champion? Was I really the only one left? Perhaps he just meant from the Indigo Plateau. "Champion Lyra, how good of you to join us this wonderful evening! We all thought you were dead."

I narrowed my eyes and pursed my lips, moving a hand to the hem of my shirt in preparation for the inevitable battle that would soon ensue. Clay's eyes dropped, but the smile didn't disappear off of his face. Instead, he just closed his eyes and tilted his head, looking more ecstatic than ever. Silver, on the other hand, stood closer to me, knowing what I was trying to do. But… why would he even try to stop me?

"What did you do to him, Clay?" I pointed at Silver, reaching under my shirt for a Poké Ball with my other hand. Clicking it off my belt, I clicked the center button, enlarging it and holding it out to Clay. He just continued to smile at me, this time showing his straight white teeth to me, looking particularly amused by the situation. "Tell me."

"You're funny. Have you ever seen movies where the villain tells the hero the plan?" Clay shoved his hands in his pockets, his eyes flashing over to Silver. What was he talking about? "Listen. I know I'm the bad guy here. I'm not afraid to admit it. I'm not _pretending_ to be the good guy. I didn't conform to the ideas of society, so that immediately makes me wrong. But I'm not like the bad guys in the movies, Lyra. I'm better than them. I'm not going to tell you my plan because that gives you the advantage that you don't deserve."

"I didn't ask for a plan, I asked for an explanation of what you did to Silver." My face was heating up, and I felt so unbelievably angry. I didn't know that I could hold so much rage within me, but it was bubbling up, and my hands were shaking. "Because there is _no_ way that he would stay here voluntarily." I turned to Silver, dropping my hand with the Poké Ball. "Silver, come on. Don't you know what you're doing? Don't you know who I am?"

"Of course I do. You're Lyra, and I'm turning you in to Team Xana's boss, Clay. Because you're a threat to our organization, and you're shouldn't be here." Silver crossed his arms, nodding at Clay, but I saw something else pass through his eyes. There was something else he wanted to say, and he wasn't saying it.

Clay held out his hands, jumping off his desk and stepping between Silver and I. "This is a touching reunion, but I'm afraid we need to cut it short. Silver, thank you for bringing her to me. You'll be in charge of her holding in the dungeons since you know her so well… just for the extra bit of torture." The smile finally vanished off his face when he turned to me, moving his hands to his hips. "I thought we needed you once, but it turned out we didn't after all. But I think you could prove useful at some point, so I won't kill you yet."

"I'm not doing anything for you. I'm going to destroy you!" I threw my Poké Ball up in the air, and my Tyranitar roared as it materialized on the ground. Clay jumped back, pushing Silver to the side as Tyranitar slashed at the air. "Ty, use Hyper Beam! Destroy this room, starting with that computer right there!"

Tyranitar shot a beam out of its mouth right at the computer, blowing it up and destroying the desk in the process. Chunks of wood exploded around the three of us, and I ducked behind Tyranitar to protect myself. The beam hit the wall, blowing a hole through the plaster and hitting the earth on the other side.

I immediately recognized my mistake. The earthy wall collapsed, and the ceiling of this room began to cave in on top of us. Recalling Tyranitar to her Poké Ball, I covered my head as chunks of the ceiling began to fall. Clay shouted something at Silver, and Silver grabbed my wrist. Then, just as before, we vanished from the room without any warning or Pokémon to guide us. I screamed, unable to do anything else, but when we landed, I just closed my eyes instead.

I tried to ignore how tightly Silver was holding my wrist, his hand slipping down a little closer to my hand. I tried to ignore how much I missed his touch and how much I loved seeing him again, in spite of our horrible circumstances. I tried to ignore how hard my heart was beating against my chest, from fear, I thought, and I brushed it off easily. But it was so difficult to ignore it all. Being here with him, I just couldn't.

"Well, that was stupid," Clay said, popping us behind the two of us, his voice low. He didn't look happy anymore, nor did he look amused. In fact, he just looked pissed off at me. His eyebrows were furrowed, and his dark eyes were narrowed into slits. This was not a common occurrence, and I now realized that he was truly frightening. For such a handsome young man, he seemed to contain all of the evil in the world within him.

I glanced around our new location, finding myself in a room filled with dozens of other people, all standing in a tight layered circle around Silver, Clay, and me. Their faces all held the same stoic expressions, their eyes and heads shielded behind black sunglasses and white helmets. Their white uniforms blinded me, and I realized why they wore those sunglasses as I squinted.

Clay grabbed my wrist on the arm that Silver didn't hold, pulling me towards him with such force that I broke away from Silver's grip. "You're lucky that the data from that computer and the files in my office are all stored in other locations. And you're lucky that we may need you," he hissed at me, lips dangerously close to my face. "Very lucky. Pull a stunt like that again, and you won't live to see the walls come down."

Then, he shoved me towards Silver, but I tumbled down with the force of the push, collapsing in front of his feet. Silver didn't reach down and help me up like I knew he would have in the past, but I saw the flicker of his fingers. There was still _something_ there in him. He still knew who I was, and I would find that person.

"Stand up!" Clay leaned down, yanking on my wrists again and pulling me to my feet. I yelped, unable to stop myself, and Clay just laughed dryly. "Oh, shut up. You're supposed to be the world's strongest Champion, but you're pathetic if you think this hurts. Just wait until we get you training. Then, you'll really have something to cry about, you disgusting girl. If you're screaming now, I can't wait to see you screaming then! Just you wait, Lyra!"

Clay let go of me, crossing his arms and turning to the men in white surrounding us. "This is Champion Lyra, everyone. She'll be in cell three on the first floor of the dungeons, priority chambers. Admin Silver will be in charge of her holding. Your job is to make sure that she doesn't escape. If she does, you all disappear with her."

No one's lips or hands twitched, but I sure as hell felt unbelievably nervous. I was so underprepared for this, and I hadn't even realized. If I thought Team Xana was strong before, they were brutal now, and I stood no chance against them. I really was pathetic. I couldn't even _begin_ to hold my own against them.

"Silver, take her Pokémon and bring them to the PCC," Clay continued, facing Silver now. "That Tyranitar of hers is quite strong. I want to utilize its abilities. Make sure it is put into the system, and make sure it's done quickly. I want to see a report by the end of this week detailing its statistics and the data errors. Do the same for the rest of her Pokémon. I think they've significantly improved from the last time I saw them."

"PCC?" I demanded, and Clay just gave me a cold glare. "I don't know what you're planning on doing to them, but I've taught them to escape when necessary. They won't trust any of you, and if you try to do anything—"

"Wrong." Clay pointed at Silver as I raised an eyebrow. I taught my Pokémon well that they couldn't trust anyone they didn't know. "They'll trust Silver. They know him. The two of you used to be pretty great buddies, didn't you? So, nice try, but they're ours now. Say buh-bye to your precious pets because you won't see them ever again."

My eyes shot to Silver, and I touched the hem of my shirt again. "Silver, please."

I didn't know what to do anymore. If I tried to send out one of my Pokémon again, everyone in the room would just let me die. Even Silver. It just seemed so wrong that all of this was happening and I had no control over any of it. Did I surrender my Pokémon and save myself (at least for the time being)? Or did I just give in now and save no one?

How had all of this happened, anyway? How was Silver standing here, clearly recognizing me these five years later, but having no recollection of our friendship? How could he have gone from vowing to destroy Team Xana one moment to working for them the next? It didn't make sense. He didn't seem like the type of person who would work for them just to save himself. If Ethan died for the cause, Silver would have, too.

I couldn't trust him. Even though he was my friend—or he used to be—I couldn't let that get in the way of how things were now. I couldn't fool myself into thinking that things would return to normal just because we had been friends. He had been with Team Xana for five years—that was enough time to change a person.

He wouldn't save me now.

"Pathetic. The omnipotent Champion of Johto is pleading for help; guess you aren't so strong now, are you?" Clay pursed his lips, watching me as I dropped my hands to my side, powerless. Then, looking around at the men in white, he clapped his hands together. "Get moving now! Put her in the dungeons! Silver, take her Pokémon and start your work for the PCC."

I turned back to Silver, hoping that he wouldn't. I didn't know what the PCC was, but it didn't sound like a good thing. Pokémon Conversion Center. Well, what the hell did that mean? It didn't make any sense to me, but I didn't want to wait and find out. I didn't want any of my Pokémon to find out.

I thought it was a good sign when Silver stepped closer to me, holding out his arms. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe he did remember, and maybe he was going to help me. Revenge seemed all the more sweeter when I thought he was dead; perhaps it wasn't such a good idea, after all. Not if I could escape with him.

But then he clapped his hands together in front of my face, and I jumped, surprised by the sudden movement. I took a step backwards in shock, finding myself feeling woozy. Putting a hand to my head, I tried to stable myself, but I could no longer focus on anything. My vision blurring and head pounding, I found myself in a state of vertigo.

Clay blurred in front of me right before I fell to the floor, the world around me going black.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I always put a bit of symbolism into all of my fanfictions (except maybe my earliest ones, which I wrote when I was quite young), and this piece is not an exception. The white outfits of the "men in white" and the black sunglasses are very symbolic pieces of imagery. As are the white walls, the white lab coats of the scientists and the more "normal" clothes of the PCC members from the previous chapter. Perhaps I'll explain my thinking at the end of this fanfiction.

I personally think that Clay is being quite intelligent in not telling Lyra about Team Xana's plans. Have you ever seen "The Incredibles"? Syndrome tells Mr. Incredible all about his plan, and that eventually leads to his demise. If Syndrome hadn't said that he was sending the robot to the city, the Incredibles wouldn't have known. (Well… kind of. I still think Mirage would have helped them, but that's beside the point.)

So, yes, Clay is actually being a smart villain. Good for him! XD

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.


	4. Chapter Four

**Chapter Four**

I awoke to find myself in a damp room carved cleanly out of the earth; unlike the rest of the rooms in the headquarters, Team Xana hadn't built their white walls around this room, instead keeping it all-natural. But the dirt from the ground was all over my clothes and body now, and it was so cold in the room that I shivered.

"Hello?" I called out to the darkness, unable to see more than ten feet in front of me. I couldn't tell how long or wide the room was, and I still felt too dizzy to get up and look around. This had to be the dungeon that Clay kept mentioning, but somehow, I imagined it to be more like a castle dungeon, with concrete floors and metal bars.

What had happened back there? What had Silver done to me to make me become overwhelmed by vertigo? He just clapped his hands in front of me, and I immediately became dizzy and disoriented. And earlier Silver had literally _teleported_. What did that mean? What had Team Xana done to him? I couldn't even wrap my head around it. It seemed so completely ridiculous that Silver could have joined them, yet he did.

It was a funny thing. "Who in their right mind would actually join them?" Silver had told me after he, Ethan, and I had escaped that first time. "They're asking for volunteers based on who can beat them, but no one would ever join them. Not after the Team Rocket fiasco. I mean, I could probably whoop their asses. But I would never join them." Now, look where he was. I didn't know why it was so funny to me, but I couldn't help but laugh aloud about it.

Then, feeling so _angry_, I kicked my legs against the ground in a tantrum, screaming out in fury. Why did everything bad in the world have to involve me? Was it selfish of me to wish that, for once, I could just _stop_ caring and live the life I didn't get to lead? Screw Silver, screw my championship, screw my Pokémon! I just wanted to be a normal girl!

Oh no. No, I didn't mean that. No, I loved my Pokémon, and I loved Silver. I just—

Wait. Where were my Pokémon?

I reached up my shirt, feeling for my belt, only to find it missing. I rubbed my hands against the dirt floor, searching everywhere for my Poké Balls. My breath became uneven, and my vision started to blur as tears welled in my eyes. But I just picked up rocks, no Poké Balls, and I realized Clay had been completely serious. Silver had taken my Pokémon from me. All of them—gone, like they had never been there at all.

No, I was wrong about revenge. Even knowing Silver was alive, I would get my revenge on Team Xana for killing my friends and family, for destroying Silver's heart, for taking my Pokémon, for capturing me. I didn't know how I would do it, but I would completely annihilate all of them. Including Silver if he got in the way. Because he had been part of this. I didn't know what they did to him, but if he was permanently like this, he was going down with them.

"Really, Lyra? You would do that to me?" Silver's voice asked from somewhere, and I glanced around my cell. Silver held a flashlight, putting it to his face and lighting it ominously. Then, smirking, he dropped the flashlight from his face and walked closer to me, setting something down in front of me and pulling something else out from his pockets.

How did he know what I was thinking? What was going on with him?

He lit a match, putting it into the object he had placed in front of me. The lantern lit up the whole cell, and I could now see how tiny it really was. Plus, other than the tiniest hole in the wall (which I surely could not fit through), there was no exit. There was plenty of room for Silver and me, but I was used to having a pretty big room at my house in New Bark Town. Not to mention carpeting and plastered walls in the place of earth.

"Sorry. I know it's not exactly a palace, but it's what we have." Silver blew out the match, waving it in the air to dissipate the smoke. "Actually, all of the members of Team Xana get their own rooms. This place pretty much expands beneath all of what used to be New Bark Town. Then, the Admins and I get our own suites. Clay, of course, gets a whole wing to himself, but that's because he's the boss."

I shook my head, completely bemused. I understood everything he was talking about, but I didn't understand _why_. Nor did I understand how the hell he knew everything I was thinking before I actually said anything. "What?" My voice was a little hostile, and I bit my lip. It was weird speaking to my old friend like a new enemy.

Silver crossed his arms, moving the lantern and sitting down across from me. I scooted away. "I'm not an enemy, Lyra. I know this is all very weird, but can you just trust me?"

"_Trust you_?" I demanded, pushing Silver away with my hands and rising to my feet. Another wave of disorientation passed through me, and I wobbled. Silver stood and steadied me, but I just pushed him away again, slapping him on the arm. Then, unable to stop myself, I began to cry, feeling like a little girl instead of a twenty-one-year-old woman far more mature than this. "Are you _kidding_ me? Are you serious?"

Silver backed away as I went in for another swing towards his head. If I had to, I would knock his head off his shoulders like a snowman. "I thought you were dead! I thought you and Ethan had both died here, and I come back five years later to find out that you are an Admin for them! And you're asking me to trust you? I don't think so. You might have been my friend, but I am not letting you trick me that way."

He narrowed his eyes, something strange flashing through them, and before I knew what was happening, he pinned me against the wall. His face inches from mine, I held my breath as he put an arm against my throat. This definitely wasn't the Silver I remembered. He might have been violent before, but he had never intentionally wanted to hurt me.

"Don't talk to me like that, bitch."

I gasped at his language, surprised that he would speak to me like that even if we weren't friends anymore. The disorientation swept through me again, but I couldn't fall. Instead, I let my head bob, hitting Silver's face. For a moment I must have passed out because I awoke on the ground, though it seemed like no time had passed.

"I'm sorry," Silver said in a softer voice when I sat up—slowly, since sitting up too quickly hurt my head. His eyes were completely different now, and I knew the apology was sincere. "I just… Oh, man, there are so many things I want to tell you, and I can't. If I tell you, they'll just… Lyra, just please try to trust me. I know it will be hard, but I'm just asking you to try."

"No."

"Ly—"

"You just tried to choke me, you asshole! And you're still expecting me to trust you? I think not. Plus, you've taken everything from me. My best friend is gone, and my Pokémon are gone." I stopped, unable to continue. Silver looked away from me, staring at the lantern instead. If he couldn't even face what he had done, this was completely wrong.

Then, sighing, he rubbed his red eyes. "There are a few things I _can_ tell you." He finally turned back to me, his eyes flashing with something else again. "No, I can't tell you a thing! You're disgusting, trying to get me to tell you things. Are you some kind of witch? Leave me alone!" I narrowed my eyes, but his eyes flashed again. "Wait, no, I can tell you."

This wasn't right. These seemed like more than just simple "mood swings". I honestly had no idea what to make of this. "What's going on?"

"Damn it, Lyra, don't talk to me like that," Silver continued, and I scooted away from him. He sighed, putting his hands against his forehead as if he was in pain. "Shit, I better spit this out quickly. I lost when I battled them that day five years ago, but I had battled Henry, who is one of the two Admins in the Science Labs. He told me that I could be useful to the organization, and if I didn't join them, I would die just like Ethan."

Crossing my arms, I shook my head. It was such a stupid thing. How could I have trusted him before if he could be so easily swayed? Wasn't it better to die trying than give yourself over to the enemy? After watching so many people die, how could he possibly join Team Xana? Was he crazy? I didn't entirely understand anymore.

"So, you betrayed us."

"No, of course not—how dare you—crap." Silver smacked his fists against the ground, and several pebbles from the ceiling fell. "I thought it would be a good idea to join them as a means of destroying them from the inside. I never _wanted_ to join them, Lyra. It was always my intention to make this defeat quick. In fact, I have a feeling that a lot of people joined them initially because they wanted to destroy them. Like some of the Elite Four members that are here. Agatha from the old Indigo Plateau league, Will from the Indigo Plateau league, Drake and Sidney from the Hoenn league, Aaron from the Sinnoh league, and Caitlin from the Unova league are all here. Everyone else is gone."

_Everyone_? How could so many Elite Four members just perish like that? And those that remained, were they truly working for Team Xana now with the idea that they were going to get rid of them? If they were, it seemed as if that amount of power could easily overthrow Clay and the other Admins. Even Silver. If they all ganged up on them at once…

"So, why has it taken you five years? And why do you keep freaking out every two seconds? It seems like there's a lot more going on than you're letting on, and I think I have a right to know. So, if you think for one minute that I am going to let you stop there, you're so wrong! I want to know everything, or else I won't trust you."

"I _can't_," he hissed through gritted teeth.

"Why?" I yelled at him, picking up one of the pebbles from the ground and throwing it at him. He winced, chucking it back at me. "Why not? Do they have you freaking brainwashed or something? Do they have you wired? What's happened?"

"No, I just… can't. Listen, when I agreed to join them, they listed me as an Admin. Why would they have done that if they feared losing control of me? Clearly I'm not the type of guy who would just join willingly. They knew that." Then, in a softer voice, he added, "Obviously you don't, but that's a different story."

I narrowed my eyes, and he put his fingers to his temples, rubbing them. "I'm not betraying anyone, Lyra. Team Xana is stronger than you think, and there is no way that you can take them on alone—or maybe even at all. It's not brainwashing, and it's not wiring. It's me. Everything that Team Xana has done… I just can't say. Especially not to you. The last Champion cannot be allowed to know any inside information."

"What? The last what?" Did I just hear him correctly, or was my brain fooling me. I could have sworn he had said last Champion, but that didn't make much sense. How could Team Xana gotten to Hoenn and Sinnoh and Unova? How could they have taken over _everything_? But, then again, Silver had mentioned that the Elite Fours of every region had vanished.

Silver darted his eyes away from mine, staring at the wall with the hole in it. "You heard me correctly," he assured me, and I covered my mouth with my hands. "Champion Lance of Johto, Champion Blue of Kanto, Champion Red of Kanto, Champion Steven Stone of Hoenn, Champion Wallace of Hoenn, Champion Brendan of Hoenn, Champion Cynthia of Sinnoh, Champion Dawn of Sinnoh, and Champion Adeku—all dead. Team Xana has eliminated them all and taken hold of their Pokémon and remaining assets."

He finally looked up at me, his eyes cold. "You're the only remaining Champion in the entire world. But that won't last too long."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Poor Lyra. And poor Lance and Steven Stone (and the other Champions…)! I have recently taken a new liking to Steven after replaying Sapphire while I was home over Thanksgiving break. I think Steven and May make a cute couple! Why am I into pairing with huge age gaps (Lance/Lyra being my obvious favorite)? I try to just ignore them and pretend like ten-year-old children do not go out on adventures.

Speaking of that, ten years old is, like, fourth or fifth grade in the United States (which is still elementary school). Would you let your fourth grader go off alone where they could potentially fall in love with handsome older men like Lance and Steven? I think not. I have this conversation a lot. Sorry.

Okay, I have some very important information: I will now have a stagnant update schedule. I will update every SATURDAY. This is to ensure that you get an update every single week from me. I've been updating quickly lately, but with finals coming up, I won't have very much time to write. And I'll probably work during my vacation, so updates would have been slow without this schedule. I will NOT be updating on Christmas, however (expect an extra update that Tuesday or something), but I will update on New Year's Day.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.


	5. Chapter Five

**Chapter Five**

It was a difficult thing to wrap my head around: that I was _really_ the last one left in the entire world. Perhaps there were others somewhere out there trying to build a resistance against Team Xana, but no matter who tried to fight them, everyone ended up losing. Will, Silver, all of the Elite Fours, all of the Champions… no one could beat them. No one could win.

My defeat was imminent, then. Or perhaps I had already been defeated. The coldness and darkness of my cell made me feel ill, but maybe that was just disgust at myself for being taken so easily. Clay got me, and without giving me any information, I had nowhere to start. Silver wasn't any more useful than Clay was. So, I was done.

When Silver came into my cell the next day (maybe it was the next day, maybe it was a few hours, maybes it was a week—I didn't know anymore), I didn't want to move. My Pokémon were gone, stolen away from me when I couldn't even defend myself, my friends were all psychotic members of Team Xana now, and everyone else I cared about was dead. So, what was the point in even trying anymore?

"You have to," Silver told me, and I was beginning to get annoyed with his stupid telepathy. "You're Champion Lyra. You can't just _give up_. When did you ever give up? Did you give up when Team Rocket took over the radio tower? Did you give up when you battled the Elite Four for the first time? Did you give up with me? No. The answer is no. Lyra, you don't just give up. You keep going."

All these changes in personality continued to throw me off, as well. One moment it seemed as if Silver was back to normal (or even more reassuring than usual), but the next he would slam me into a wall and demand an apology. I didn't know which side of him to believe. I didn't know which one of him Clay controlled.

Silver grimaced at me, the light from his lantern flickering against his face. "I'd tell you if I could." He just shrugged, reaching a hand out at me. I shook my head, crossing my arms and scooting against the wall. "Hey, come on. You're not serious, are you? You're not just going to give up. What about me?"

"Clearly it doesn't matter that I didn't give up on you because you're further back than where you even started. And I'm not going to put effort into something that can't be fixed." I sighed, pulling my legs closer to me. I didn't want to talk about that anymore. I couldn't fix something that wasn't worth fixing at all. "Why are you asking me to keep trying, anyway? You want me to destroy you, too? Will?"

Silver narrowed his eyes at me, dropping the lantern to the floor, and I felt a shiver crawl up my spine. He had switched personalities again. "I just want you to do what I couldn't," he barked, and I crossed my arms. I had decided that I wouldn't listen to him whenever he entered what I had dubbed "Rage Mode". But I still couldn't trust either half of him.

"Now, come on. You need to get started on your first day of work." He yanked me to my feet, tugging my wrist. I tried to pull myself away, peeling his fingers away. I was not going to "work". Whatever they called it, I knew it meant the same thing. I would become just as far gone as Will and Silver were. And I was _not_ going to let that happen.

"Oh, no way!" I yelled as Silver bent down to pick up the lantern he had dropped. "I am not turning into one of you! You can keep me in this dungeon, but I am _not_ going to get brainwashed like you guys! Come on, Silver! Would you do this to your best friend? Think back, Silver, think back! Don't let me forget! Didn't you say you wanted me to do what you couldn't? I can't if I don't have the power to stop Clay!"

Silver looked at me, eyes flashing again. "You'll get the power…"

I stopped struggling, staring at Silver with disbelief. Had he just let something incredibly important slip? "What? What do you mean I'll get it? Won't I not be able to stop Clay once I start working for you? I mean, you can't stop him anymore. You can't even tell me anything about his plan. How will I get the power to stop him, Silver?"

Silver didn't respond. Instead, he teleported, dragging me through a black abyss until we landed in the PCC. I glanced around, seeing the same people walking around as before. Everyone looked so tired, so worn-out. No one was smiling, and if I didn't know better, I would have said they were the living dead. I was never one to believe in zombies, but these people kind of looked like them. Why did they look so dead compared to the scientists?

"It's this place," Silver responded, though I hadn't asked the question aloud. I felt as if my privacy was being invaded whenever Silver read my thoughts, and I wished he would stop (yes, I hoped he heard that!). But a little piece of me liked the convenience of it. I didn't have to say anything to communicate with him. "The PCC."

I recalled Allison telling me that everyone wanted to work in the Science Labs, and now I knew why. Whatever they were doing to the people here in the PCC… it wasn't good. It was sucking the life right out of everyone. And this was where Clay wanted me to go? He really was trying to kill me. Not quickly, but a slow, drawn-out death.

How could I give up so easily? No, I needed to fight back. I needed to resist this. Because here were all these people working where they didn't belong, destroying themselves and leading Clay to world domination. This wasn't right. I had to continue with my revenge. And if Silver was going to get me to work for Clay, I would fight back. I wouldn't lose track of myself like Silver and Will. This victory would be mine.

I yanked my wrist away Silver, taking a run for it. I knew exactly where I was heading, and I figured that meant Silver knew, too. But I couldn't see him coming after me if he knew where I was going: the Science Labs. Allison didn't seem like someone I could _trust_, exactly, but she did seem like someone I could trust more than anyone in the PCC. Maybe she would give me more information on what the PCC was doing since Silver "couldn't".

So, I sprinted out the door and down the hall. No one was following me, but I didn't want to risk anything. Who knew where Clay was, and I had a feeling he wouldn't want me going around asking for information from his Admins. I didn't even know if Allison would tell me anything, but it was worth a shot.

I entered the Science Labs feeling a sort of determination, heading straight out into the lab areas. There were little cubicles with computers lined up in one section of the labs, and in another there were isolated rooms with huge machines and motors and computers. In the way back, behind the shuttle, there was what appeared to be a giant library filled with walls upon walls of books. All stolen, of course.

Then again, if you ruled the world, was it really stealing?

"Excuse me, ma'am, I do believe you are in the wrong area. The PCC is just down the hallway," a man said, and I turned around, facing a middle-aged man with blonde hair and big muscles. I swallowed, slightly intimidated by his build, but he just grinned at me. His white lab coat looked too small for him, and underneath I could see khaki pants and a bright green shirt; suddenly, I wasn't that scared.

"Oh, you're the last Champion," he said, realizing who I was. He continued to grin at me, holding out his hand for me to shake. I eyed his hand wearily, and he laughed huskily. "Hmm, right. I'm Henry, an Admin of the Science Labs. It is an absolute honor to meet the heroine of our day. I was quite impressed to hear that you had beaten Champion Lance—and then Champion Red—all those years ago. You must be some Trainer, huh?" He moved his hand a little, directing my attention back to it.

I hesitantly put my tiny hand in his big one, and he shook it enthusiastically. "I had a daughter who absolutely adored you," Henry continued, and I furrowed my eyebrows. _Had_? "She heard about you saving the Goldenrod Radio Tower, and she knew you would be Champion. She would be a little bit older than you now…"

"I'd like to meet her," I responded sadly, knowing where I was heading with this conversation. What kind of horrible organization was this? How could they take away a child from a father? What did they think they were doing? How could Henry just stand here and play along with this when he seemed like such a good guy?

Henry's smile disappeared, and he shoved his hands in the pockets of his lab coat. "Unfortunately, you can't. She was killed a few years ago." He shrugged, smiling once again. "But, you know, those things happen. It's no use looking at the past. You just have to keep looking towards the future, and that's exactly what we do in the Science Labs. Were you just here to check the area out, or were you looking for something? I believe Clay told me that you are supposed to work in the PCC. Which, you know, doesn't make much sense. All the great Trainers come here."

How could he so nonchalantly push off his own daughter's death? What the hell had Clay done to these people? Why didn't they want to get revenge? Why didn't they want to get back at the man who had defeated them? I didn't quite understand, and I wasn't sure I ever would. Unless they got me to turn into one of them.

"I'm actually looking for Allison. I wanted to talk to her about, er, transferring to the Science Labs. I really don't want to work in the PCC." I figured I might as well tell him something. And, quite honestly, I didn't want to work in the PCC. If I had the option, I would definitely pick the Science Labs. I could tell this was the better place to be, and I had a feeling I would have a better chance at retaining my own mind if I worked at the Science Labs. And I could destroy this headquarters a bit more skillfully.

I was grateful that Henry seemed to have no idea what I was thinking. Unlike Silver, he didn't appear to have any telepathic insight as to what I thought, and thank goodness for that. I couldn't imagine Henry would be very pleased if he knew I was planning to destroy the headquarters with the machines in the Science Labs.

"Somebody say they were looking for me?" Allison walked over, standing next to Henry and smiling at me. "Someone is _always_ looking for me. But that's the life of an Admin. You know." She winked at me, throwing her blonde hair over her shoulder. "How are you, Lyra? Why didn't you tell me that you're the famous Champion yesterday? I feel like such a fool." She bowed at me, and I held up my hands, shaking my head. "I apologize."

"Oh, please, don't do that," I said, but I had to admit, this was nice. Seeing an Admin bow to me… I felt like I definitely had more control over myself here with Henry and Allison. It was strange that I wanted so much to get away from Silver… but this seemed like a more suitable place for me to think of a plan.

Allison stood back up, and I dropped my hands. "Now, Lyra, what is it that you want? Clay told us that you were supposed to be working in the PCC from now on." She crossed her arms, looking slightly annoyed. "That doesn't make much sense to me. I tried to argue with him to get you into the Science Labs, but Clay wouldn't have any of that. And I tried to convince him to give you a room instead of those stupid dungeons, too, but… I'm sorry, Lyra, I tried."

I couldn't help but be touched by Allison's thought. She had tried to get me out of the dungeons! She had argued with Clay to get me into the Science Labs! How could someone so thoughtful be a part of Team Xana? How could she be so nice to me here but do such evil things? Team Xana was far more complex than I thought.

"That's all right," I said, and Henry gave me a weak smile. "Thank you for trying. Though, you know, I do have one more question. Since I have to work in the PCC, could you tell me what it is? What does the PCC do? Why do they want me there?"

"I can't tell you all the details, unfortunately. Some of the information is quite secret. Clay has the strictest orders not to tell you. Anyone that divulges gets eliminated." Allison looked at Henry, uncrossing her arms and placing her hands on her hips instead. "But I can tell you what the PCC is: Pokémon Conversion Center."

I scratched my head. "Well, I know that."

"No, think about the name: Pokémon Conversion Center. It converts the powers of Pokémon into obtainable energy." I raised an eyebrow, and Allison leaned a little closer to me, her voice softer now. "In other words, they extract the abilities, powers, and skills from Pokémon and give them to humans. Then they kill the Pokémon."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Dun, dun, dun. So, that answers one question! I'm quite impressed that many of you guessed this. Like VERY impressed. Nice job for guessing that!

I actually like this update schedule. It gives me time to write lots of chapters without being stressed about updating right when I finish. So, theoretically, I can get very far ahead in this. Once I get a nice collection of chapters, I can probably increase the schedule to twice a week updates! That would be nice.

Enjoy! I'll have another chapter up on the 18th!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.


	6. Chapter Six

**Chapter Six**

Team Xana was far more powerful than I ever expected. Even now, within their headquarters, seeing everything, I knew I was only skimming the surface of what they knew and what they could do. There was so much I didn't know, so much they had, and I didn't know how to attack back. I didn't know how to win.

So, all four of the Admins—Allison and Henry of the Science Labs and Silver and Lindsey of the PCC—had acquired powers from the Pokémon Conversion Center. I didn't know if every single one of the members of Team Xana had been "converted" into Pokémon, but I had a feeling that this was just one giant factory of using Pokémon as tools.

It was even more disgusting than anything Team Rocket had done, and thinking about it made me sick to my stomach. Henry and Allison seemed so nonchalant about it, just waving off the bit of nausea passing through me as something else. Nothing about the PCC was bad. They had no idea why I thought this was so wrong.

And where the hell were my Pokémon? Were they already dead?

"Oh, it's completely normal. That's why we're so strong, you know," Allison explained, but—once again—I didn't understand. "All the Admins have their own Pokémon. These ones are kept for battling purposes, not for usage in the PCC. But the reason we're so strong is because we have these Pokémon abilities and stuff inside of us. Because we're basically half-Pokémon, the other Pokémon obey us. _Our_ enhanced abilities enhance _their_ abilities because of the psychological effect of the bond. It's quite simple."

Oh, yeah. So simple.

Allison wouldn't tell me what they planned to do with these enhanced abilities, though I did manage to make her tell me a bit more about the situation. Clearly, some of this information was more valuable than the rest, and I wondered how many of the members of Team Xana actually knew the plan. I imagined the number to be rather small, but I had no idea what they had been telling the lesser members to make them work so hard.

"So, whose abilities did you take?" I wondered, and Allison exchanged a glance with Henry. Their expressions said it all: they were concerned about telling me too much. They knew who I was—they weren't stupid—and I was sure they knew I was against this. It could be dangerous to tell me too much. And this was certainly information that could be helpful to my destruction of the Team Xana fortress.

Then, nodding, she proceeded to tell me. "All of the other members of Team Xana know, so you might as well. We are not prohibited from telling you this." She smiled at me, and for a moment I felt a wave of trust pass between us. It was too bad that she trusted the wrong person here, considering I would eventually lead to her downfall. Hopefully. "I'm a Magnezone. That's why I'm so good with technology. I can fix anything at anytime with incredible speed, and I control the production of technical machines and parts here."

Henry raised a hand, and I stared at him. "I'm an Electivire. I control all the electrical currents and voltage throughout the headquarters, but I focus primarily on the Science Labs. The most extensive computer and electrical needs are here in the Science Labs, so I try to control this area first. And, for the record, we were assigned Pokémon based on our jobs in the headquarters. Allison and I were assigned Electric-types for a reason. And her secondary Steel-type gives her phenomenal abilities in dealing with all this technology."

"And Silver?"

"Gallade," Allison replied, and I narrowed my eyes, lines starting to connect the dots. The teleporting, the violence, the conflicting personalities that could be seen with a Psychic and Fighting-type Pokémon… Though I knew there had to be more to the conflicting personalities than just that, it made sense. "He works in the PCC, so he has to have more of a silent connection to Pokémon and the people there. He's not as much of an authority as Lindsey, but he definitely keeps things running smoothly in the PCC."

Henry rubbed his chin, a tiny smile on his lips. "Lindsey is a special one. Working in the PCC is difficult, as we've said, and things need to be done quickly. Lindsey kind of keeps everyone in line, and if anyone fights back… well, she'll take care of them without having to get Clay involved. She's a Garchomp. Not just any Garchomp, though." He held up a finger, and I swallowed. "She's taken the powers of Champion Cynthia's Garchomp."

It took everything in me to keep myself from gasping. Instead, I just pretended to look impressed, though a certain nausea swept through me. They just took the Champion's Pokémon like that and redistributed their powers? Where were Lance's Pokémon? Where was Dragonite? And Red's? His Pikachu... Blue's Pidgeot… All the other Champion's Pokémon? Where did they go? Who had them now?

Perhaps Clay…

"And what about Clay? Where does he fit into all of this? Did he get another Champion's Pokémon?" I asked, hoping that they could answer a question about their boss. I didn't see why this would hurt anything; all I could do with it is work around his abilities. But it would still be a difficult endeavor for me.

Allison made a face, looking unsure whether she could say anything. However, after a moment of thought, she sighed. "We got a hold of Mew. It came to help the other Pokémon, but Clay caught it with a Master Ball; I don't know why he had one lying around, but I think he was waiting for Mew to show up. Anyway, he took Mew's abilities. Mew can use any attack in existence. It can learn any TM, any HM… its abilities are astounding. So, Clay took it."

Mew. I never expected that. Mew was a legendary, a myth, and Clay had taken it. And, well, what now? Allison and Henry said that once a Pokémon's abilities were taken, it died. So, Mew was gone. All of these Pokémon… gone. I shivered at the thought of it, completely horrified by this. It was sick. Disgusting.

"Well, well, well, sharing secrets, are we?" A man clicked his tongue behind me, and I spun around, staring at Clay as he grinned at me. I put my hands on my hips, glaring at him. I wasn't going to pretend like I didn't know. I couldn't. He had done too many horrible things to be ignored, and I was going to show him that I didn't agree one way or another.

"You never—" Allison began, and Clay held up a hand. She stopped immediately, looking like a little puppy just scolded. What was that?

"Yes, well, apparently I wasn't specific enough when I told you not to tell her about our plans for her." Clay walked closer to me, wrapping an arm around my waist and spinning me back around to face Allison and Henry again. I tried to push myself around from him, but he just tightened his grip, reaching up with his other hand and squishing my face. "Don't tell her anymore information. Do you understand? Get out of here."

Allison and Henry nodded, excusing themselves and walking away. I yelled to them through my squished cheeks, telling them to stop, but they continued to walk. They didn't even look back. Clay just squeezed my face harder before pushing me down to the ground, looking down at me like I was no better than trash. Suddenly, I didn't feel so different from Allison and Henry, and that frightened me.

"Let us get one thing straight," Clay began, knocking me down when I started to get back up. I grunted, falling to the floor once again and feeling my ankle twist uncomfortably. "This is my organization. You can ask around all you want, but you won't be getting anymore information from anyone. That includes Silver. I know what he's told you, and let me just say that you can do _nothing_ with the information he has given you. I have complete control here. I know everything you do, say, think, plan… None of it's a secret. Not to me." He pointed a finger to his temple, winking at me. "I've outsmarted you."

"It's a pity, then," I retorted, continuing to glare at him, "that you're wasting your brains. You could be doing something good with your life, and here you are, trying to accomplish nothing. You already have the world. What more do you want? What more do you expect? What are you going to do when you run out of places to go?"

Clay laughed, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes. "I forgot. You started that little adventure of yours when you were just ten. You missed most of your schooling, didn't you?" He smiled at me, and I squirmed uneasily. "Oh, you were homeschooled, were you? Well, clearly you didn't do well in science. There's a whole universe out there, Lyra. It is forever expanding, an infinite zone of unexplored regions. Imagine me, the ruler of the whole universe. The ruler of infinity! It's an amazing thing."

I shook my head, finding the hole in his logic. I knew what he meant, but he was contradicting himself. Clearly, Clay wasn't as bright as he liked to think he was. "But if the universe is infinite, you can't rule all of it. You can't reach infinity. At least not in your lifetime. Luckily, you'll be dead before you get there."

Clay chuckled again, apparently finding this horribly amusing. "Wrong. You're correct about infinity, but you're incorrect about the assumption that I'll be dead before I get there. See that space shuttle?" He pointed to the large mass taking up space in the giant Science Labs. How could anyone miss it? "You've heard about the space-time continuum equation, correct? Well, there's more to it than that. There's more than just going to Andromeda. But, as you know, I don't want to share any plans with you."

"Right," I murmured, silently cursing him for it. What kind of villain was he, anyway, if he didn't share the plan? Even the Team Rocket Executives shared their plans with me.

"Don't compare me to those fools." Clay looked earnestly offended, but I was just impressed that he could look earnestly anything. "This is a sophisticated organization that took me years to begin. Everything we do is entirely thought out; nothing is spur of the moment. You've been part of the plan for years. Even when we thought you were dead. We were still looking for your Pokémon. They're valuable."

I shook my head, wishing he would just leave my Pokémon out of this. How could he so easily destroy them? "You're horrible. I don't care how smart you are, and I don't care how many times you can outwit me. I am going to get you. I'm going to completely outplay you. I am going to _win_. There's no losing now."

Clay laughed one more time, and I seriously considered jumping to my feet and just throttling him right then and there. But if he really was Mew, he could stop me without having to move a finger. I wasn't sure I wanted to risk that.

"Oh, you're getting smarter! But, don't worry, I wouldn't hurt you too much. Unfortunately, we need you." Clay held a hand out to me, and I ignored it, rising to my feet on my own. But he saw what happened before I knew about it—my ankle gave out, and I tumbled back down. Clay caught my arm, actually stopping me from falling back down. "I need you in one piece. I know, it's horrible, isn't it?"

I groaned in reply, tugging my arm away from him and leaning entirely on my right leg instead of the left. "Yeah."

"I'll let you in on a little secret, Lyra. Don't worry, I'm not telling you any plans. I'm not doing that yet." He leaned closer to me, and I wanted to smack him across the face. But, stopping myself (and seeing him lean a little bit away), I just listened instead. "I'm the boss here. I'm the most powerful one in this entire headquarters. Stronger than you. That's why they listen to me. Even though I'm not entirely human, consider me the Team's Master. Pokémon have to obey their Master if they are respectable enough."

He smiled again, patting me on the head. "You'll never win. They have to obey me." He popped his lips, winking at me just one more time. "Now, don't you have somewhere to be?"

I shivered as he wrapped his cold fingers around my wrist, teleporting me back to the PCC. I didn't have a choice, either. But maybe I could someday… and everyone else could, too.

* * *

**Author's Note:** For some reason (and this seems a little late, but oh well), I want to clarify on how to pronounce "Team Xana". I think mostly everyone knows, but I just… I don't even know why I'm clarifying, really. You're probably all rolling your eyes at me right now. But I say it like "Team Zana". The first "a" is long, second short. Like… "ZAAAAAAna." XD

More information! You get a little insight as to why Silver can't tell Lyra anything (Clay controls how much everyone can say), why his personality conflicts a little bit, why he can teleport/read minds. So, there's a lot of good information in this chapter. Anymore questions? Probably. But you'll figure everything out in the end.

I'm sick. It's very sad. As soon as I get home—bam! Cold. :(

The next chapter will be up on Wednesday, December 22, not Saturday (because Saturday is Christmas!).

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.


	7. Chapter Seven

**Chapter Seven**

"Hey," Silver greeted bitterly when I showed up with Clay, whose arm he had looped around mine as we walked over to him. I couldn't help but note that Silver was staring at our linked arms, looking slightly annoyed; I hoped that was a good sign, but I knew not to get overly excited about it. Any sign at any time could be false, especially if he was basically under Clay's control. Or maybe he was just annoyed that I had run off. I didn't know.

"You heard the message. No more of this… slipping information in when you think you can. Just get her to work and get started on the remainder of the plan." Clay unhooked his arm from mine, brushing his black hair out of his eyes. "Have fun, Champion Lyra. Enjoy it while you can. And don't try to stop us. You're just going to lose."

I stuck my tongue out at him, if only because I felt utterly unprepared to do anything else but that, and he laughed, patting me on the head. "You're cute. I can see why so many people liked you." He patted my cheek next. "I kind of like you, too." Clay shoved a hand in his pocket, waving at me with his free one just before he vanished. I was quite upset that I didn't get to punch him in the face before he left. It would have been satisfying.

"Gross," a different voice muttered, and I looked over to see a tall brunette walking over to us. Her cheek bones seemed to poke out of her face, and her eyes looked sunken in. I couldn't guess how old she was, but probably looked older than she was. Even her clothes looked old-fashioned and grimy, but she had a certain radiance about her that told me that she wasn't just some grunt. This had to be Lindsey.

Silver, I noticed, appeared a tad bothered by Lindsey's presence. If he had looked annoyed with Clay, he didn't seem to like Lindsey much more. It was a strange thing; if Silver didn't like these people, then why did he listen? But, I realized, Pokémon were only evil if their masters were. And Silver "belonged" to Clay, didn't he?

"Champion Lyra of Johto: the last Champion standing." Lindsey walked closer to me, circling me like a Pokémon examining its meal before diving into it. She raised a finger, dragging her nail across my cheek in her final circle, and I stood still, cringing only slightly. "You're so young. You're Silver's age. And _you're_ the Champion that Clay wants? How could you possibly be stronger than any of the others?"

"She's alive, isn't she?" Silver snapped, and Lindsey turned to him, her eyes flashing dangerously. Considering the Admins of the Science Labs got along so well, it was surprising that Lindsey and Silver didn't like each other very much. Allison and Henry just seemed so different from the PCC Admins; it was so easy to tell why no one wanted to work in the PCC.

Lindsey finally looked back at me, laughing shortly. "For now." Then, crossing her arms, she glanced over at the large machine in the back of the room. "So, we're not allowed to tell her anything, are we? That's fine. Just get her started on the PCC central control, and make sure she doesn't screw it up. Got it, Silver?" She smiled, a terrible, frightening smile, and walked away, leaving Silver and I alone together.

As soon as Lindsey was out of sight, I grabbed hold of Silver's arms, staring at him with pleading eyes. "Silver, can't you fight this? You're a human, not a Pokémon. You have self-control, you have a mind, and you have the ability to make choices for yourself!" Nothing seemed to resonate with him; his eyes were vacant, his annoyance from earlier gone. "You don't belong to Clay! Just because he's strong does not mean he gets you. You're strong, too. Silver, you're strong, too!"

He just shook his head, yanking himself out of my grip and grabbing my wrist instead. Dragging me towards the side of the large machine, he didn't show any signs of caring. How could Clay have done all of this? How could he kill a Pokémon and alter a human being forever? Was this not temporary? Was this going to be Silver the rest of his life?

"Silver, I'll fix you! I'll fix you! But you _can't_ listen to Clay," I begged, but he just kept walking. Why didn't he care? Didn't he care earlier? Didn't he want me to fix this? Wasn't he the one pleading for me to keep trying? Now that I was, why was this something he could so easily ignore? Couldn't he read my thoughts? Couldn't he see that this was true? "What did he say to you now?"

"You'll be working here." Silver gestured to a little alcove in the wall, with a single computer sitting on a desk. Other than what appeared to be a rotting wooden chair, the desk, and the computer, there didn't seem to be any other furniture in the room; not that there was really space for anything else, but compared to the Science Labs, this was trashy.

Seeing that I wasn't getting through to Silver, I gave up, figuring I would try again later when I actually had him alone. I knew he would be the one to bring me back to my cell, and he usually spent a little bit of time with me before disappearing to who-knew-where. It was better to interrogate him where no one else could hear.

"Silver, get her working!" Lindsey snapped, and the two of us glanced back out from the alcove, seeing Lindsey standing with her bony hands on her bony hips. I narrowed my eyes at her, but before I could see the look she gave back, Silver grabbed my shoulder and pushed me down into the rotting chair. It creaked beneath my weight, which—honestly—wasn't that much, and I feared it would break.

Silver reached across in front of me, typing something into the computer. With a few strokes, the computer's screen flashed, and a list of Pokémon came up in front of me with their listed abilities: Butterfree (Compoundeyes), Arcanine (Flash Fire), Flareon (Guts), Scizor (Swarm), Kingdra (Swift Swim), Salamence (Intimidate), Froslass (Snow Cloak), Luxray (Rivalry), and Sazandora (Levitate). All final form, all with their own abilities, all powerful Pokémon. But was this computer just documentation?

"Press enter. That's all you have to do. Then, make sure the check mark comes up next to all of those names," Silver told me, pointing to the screen. I stared at the enter button, not bothering to follow my eyes to the screen. If all I had to do was press enter, then it surely could not be just documentation. No. This was worse.

I shook my head, refusing to _help_ them. "No. I won't press any buttons. I am _not_ going to help Team Xana accomplish their goals. I'm not going to help them do what everyone else knows is wrong. I don't know what that enter key does, but I am not going to press it. Everything here is a trick. Clay is not going to get me."

"Silver, why isn't she working?" Lindsey asked in a sing-song voice, coming into the small alcove. Her hands were still on her hips, but she didn't look annoyed; she looked _amused_, like she was expecting me to fight back. "Lyra, press the enter key. It isn't very hard. This is the easiest job here at the PCC."

I crossed my arms, sitting firm in the chair as it creaked again. "No. Especially when I have no idea what this machine does."

Lindsey smiled, making a little humming noise. "I thought you might ask. You are the Champion, and they never jump into anything without a reason… or a plan." She winked at me, and I winced. She knew I had no plan now, that my original plan had failed, and she was making fun of me. "Okay, dear Lyra, watch and learn."

She hit the enter key, and the names on the screen flashed. A whirring noise erupted throughout the whole PCC, and I stared out at the main machine in the center of the room. Lindsey walked over to it, and I followed; it only took me a moment to notice the Poké Balls traveling along a black conveyor belt into the belly of the machine. And I knew immediately by Lindsey's smug face and Silver's sick expression that this was the main action of the PCC.

And now that was my job. I was the one who was supposed to kill the Pokémon.

"No!" I screamed, running forward and pushing people out of the way to get to the conveyor belt. I threw myself at it, grabbing as many of the spread out Poké Balls as I could. How could they even ask me to do something so horrible? Especially when I still had the choice. What was Clay planning? What was he doing?

I heard Lindsey's voice, but I didn't hesitate. I reached for more Poké Balls, determined to set them free. "Silver, stop her."

Once I had them all in my grip, I turned back around. They were all strong Pokémon in the Poké Balls, and I was Champion. I could use them to my advantage. Screw what Clay said about trying to fight back. I wasn't a coward.

"Silver! Do it now!"

I cradled all of the Poké Balls in my left arm, reaching with my right hand to grab the first one I could.

"Silver!"

My head began to ache so terribly, a migraine pulsing through my whole body. No one stopped working, no one watched as I fell to my knees, dropping all of the Poké Balls except the one I held in my hand. I cried out, squeezing my eyes shut in pain, wishing that it would just stop. I couldn't move, and I couldn't feel anything but the pain.

Then, it stopped, and I collapsed onto my stomach on the ground. This was Silver's power. This was his doing—a Psychic-type attack. How could he so easily attack me? Under the control of Clay or not, how could he _hurt_ me? How could he lay so much trust in a person he _knew_ he shouldn't trust, but he couldn't trust me?

I looked at him, involuntary teardrops falling from my eyes. It hurt in more way than one, and I truly realized that I needed to fix him again. I needed to bring him back to the way he was five years ago—back to the boy I remembered. This wasn't him, and it never was. _He_ wasn't the one hurting me. Clay was.

Before I could even push myself up, Lindsey walked over, stepping on my hand that still held one Poké Ball. I grimaced, biting my lip to keep myself from screaming out in pain as my bones crunched. Finally, giving up, I slid the Poké Ball away, and she took her foot off my hand as she swooped down to pick the Ball up. I pushed myself up to my feet, cradling my hand in my other.

Collecting all nine of the Poké Balls, she put them back on the conveyor belt and came back over to me with a serious expression. Then, without even waiting a moment as she stopped in front of me, she slapped me right across the face. No one else paid any attention to this, but I saw Silver wince out of the corner of my eye. And that wince was worth it.

He reacted. He reacted to someone else hurting me, but he had no reaction to his own violence…

"Don't do that again. Get back over to that computer, and if I have to break your other hand, fine. I will. But you are going to send those Pokémon through," Lindsey snapped, and I rubbed my hand, feeling its swollenness. It was so numb now that I couldn't even feel it, and I wondered if maybe it actually was broken.

"No."

"I swear, if you don't—"

"Lyra!" Silver yelled, and Lindsey and I both stared at him. He looked just as surprised as I felt at his outburst, as though he was shocked that my name had come from him. Lindsey raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms with a bemused expression on her face. "Just… hit the enter key. Just do it. Clay won't be happy if you don't, and you don't really want to mess with him."

He was _concerned_! He was worried that I was going to get hurt! He was sacrificing the lives of Pokémon for me, and while that was slightly disconcerting, I was so happy that he was subtly saying that he still cared. Because, subtle or not, that was exactly what he was saying. I didn't even know if he realized it, but I certainly did.

Then, grabbing my wrist with her bony fingers, Lindsey pulled me back into the alcove and pushed me down into the seat. "Hit the enter key. Now."

"No."

"Now!"

I looked at Silver, and though his eyes were vacant, I knew he wanted me to press it, too. Not because he was part of Team Xana, and not because this was part of some horrible plan—because of me.

"No!"

Lindsey growled—actually growled—and I wondered if I was going too far in evoking her Garchomp persona. "Hit the key! Hit it now, or else I'll send in your Pokémon in these Pokémon's place—and I'll hit the enter key for you! Hit it, or your Pokémon die!"

I hit the enter key way too fast, not even hesitating when she threatened my Pokémon. And the second I hit the key, I pulled my hand back, covering my mouth, aghast that I had just done that. How could I have just done that? How could I have placed value on my own Pokémon more than anybody else's?

But I just sat there this time, watching the conveyor belt move. Because I didn't want it to be my Pokémon.

"Good girl. You're done for today," Lindsey said, a smug smile back on her face. And before I could say or do anything, Silver grabbed my wrist and Teleported us back to my cell.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Lindsey is horrible. She is just a mean lady. Clay is cruel, and he's certainly evil, but he doesn't go to the extents that Lindsey does. You'll find out more about her later. Actually, you'll find out all the Admins' back stories (and Clay's) soon.

Question: Do you think this needs to be rated mature? I'm honestly not sure. There was a little violence in this chapter, but teenagers should theoretically be able to handle this, right? I dunno. What do you think?

Also, since I won't update before Christmas, to those of you who celebrate the holiday, Happy Christmas! To those of you who don't, have a good break! :) The next chapter will probably be up a week from today (as well as an update on New Year's).

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.


	8. Chapter Eight

**Chapter Eight**

We both sat in my cell in relative silence, the only noise being my sniffles as I tried to regain control of myself once again. Silver never once moved any closer to me or any farther away, instead standing against the earthy wall. I wasn't entirely sure what he was waiting around for, but I didn't want to be alone. Not now. Not after that. So, I appreciated the fact that he was sticking around for me when he didn't need to.

"Silver," I started, but through the darkness, I could see him move against the wall, fidgeting or raising a hand or doing something. He hadn't brought the lantern with him, so it was pitch dark in the room, the only light seeping in through the hole in the wall. But even that light was dark, and I could barely see him from five feet away. My eyes had fully adjusted, yet I couldn't see a thing.

"No, Lyra, just wait." I bit my lip, and Silver finally pushed himself off the wall, coming over to me and sitting right down beside me. He didn't touch me, and he didn't make any other movements. All was silent again, and I wondered why he wanted it like this. Was it easier to read my mind? Was he looking for information that he wanted from me? I didn't know what to think when I knew Silver could hear my every thought.

Finally, he sighed, and I wondered if I had thought something wrong. Without even saying anything aloud, I could hurt his feelings. And with his conflicting personalities, I wasn't sure thinking the wrong thing was a good idea. Not that I had any control over my thoughts, since whatever popped into my head at the time would be apparent to him, but I would have been nice if he couldn't read a thing.

"The silence is good," he finally said, and I blinked, watching him wobble in the darkness as he crossed his legs. "It kind of helps me control myself. The more physical half of me… well, it gets set off easily, and when nothing is happening, there is no physical part. And if I get calmed down enough, I can keep it at bay for a little while. And I was already a little worked up after what just happened."

Worked up was an understatement for me. I was horrified, disgusted, annoyed, hurt, and I didn't quite understand why they wanted me to do that. Why did they want anyone at all to do that? Clay kept getting stranger and stranger and more and more evil. How did anyone ever get to the point Clay was at, anyway? It didn't make any sense to me.

"Lyra, I'm sorry. I am so sorry that I couldn't finish what we started, and I am so sorry that Lindsey hurt you. And I'm sorry that I can't help you. I never wanted this, but you _have_ to stop Clay. If you don't… well, I can't even tell you what will happen. But it won't be good." Silver paused, the silence filling the room again.

I was impressed, honestly, that Silver even apologized. He wasn't big on the whole "being sorry" thing, and he had never apologized for anything he had ever done to me before. But I never held that against him. I had long since forgiven him for being a royal ass to me when I first traveled through Johto, and I never felt any apology was necessary. It wasn't entirely his fault, anyway. Just like this wasn't.

Still only slightly able to see through the darkness, I barely noticed Silver narrow his eyes at me. "You're too nice. You came here with the idea for revenge, right?" I bit my lip, knowing where he was going with this. "I know how bitter you are about all of this, but you're too content with the fact that I'm alive. That's why you couldn't get your revenge first time around. You let happier emotions get in the way of your angry ones."

"But Silver, you're alive. You're the only one I have left. How could I not be happy to find out that one of my best friends actually survived? Sure, it sucks that you're a part of Team Xana, and I still don't really understand why. But you're alive, and I can't do this alone. I'm in way over my head now," I said, knowing that I really was in way too deep. There was no way I could take out Team Xana without any help. Team Rocket was one thing… but Team Xana was a whole other thing. "I can't do this alone. I'm not strong enough. I know there are very few ways you can help me, but can't you try? Can't you explain anything?"

Silver's eyes widened, a wave of realization seemingly passing through him. "I can't. But I know something that can. Clay never set any restrictions regarding you on the computer. I can't access the data that outlines the details of the whole Team Xana plan, but I can access the background information on all the members. It has the information about before they joined, and Clay's plan about getting them to join if they were classified as unwilling."

He held out his hand, and I couldn't help but beam at him. He just opened up a world of possibilities for me. If I got the background information on everyone, I could use that to my advantage. And, honestly, I wanted to find out what happened to Silver. If he initially came in wanting to infiltrate the organization, he failed. But how did Clay do that? And how did Clay get to the point he was at?

I wrapped my arms around Silver instead of grabbing his hand, hugging him so tightly that I was probably suffocating the poor guy. After getting over his shock, he touched my back lightly with his hands, unsure what else to do. And then, without warning, he took me away from the cell, bringing me to what appeared to be a room in the Science Labs.

There were no windows in the room looking out into the Science Labs, but the white walls and marble tiling hinted at the fact that we were in the Science Labs. A lone computer sat on a wooden desk (both much nicer than the ones at the PCC), a spinning desk chair pushed up against the desk. Silver broke away from me, walking over to the computer and typing something on the screen. I glanced around, walking over to the door and jiggling the handle. Locked.

"Here's the database with the list of all of our members, current and past. Some people have, um, been killed. It has the information on all the Champions, too, but only on their locations and teams. And considering you're the only Champion left, it doesn't seem entirely critical that you look at that. I have no idea how much time you have, but go quickly and search for the people you need to. I'm going to head back to the PCC, make it look like things are normal." I nodded, and he vanished from the room.

I sat down in the desk chair, looking at the list. It was huge, and I could scroll down for what seemed like forever. But I knew a few people that I wanted to read about: Clay, Allison, Henry, Lindsey, Silver… Will. I needed to figure out how Clay was getting all these people to join; maybe there was some sort of counter to it.

Clicking on the first name I saw, since it was in alphabetical order by first name, the information on Allison popped up on the screen beside the list of names. There was a picture of her standing in a white lab coat, similar to the one she wore now while at the Science Labs, but the shot looked purely candid. The setting behind her was not of the Science Labs but of a research center filled with computers and other random men sitting at them.

_Name: Allison Baertschi_

_Age: 25_

_Background: Allison Baertschi, at age 20, worked at the main aeronautical engineering firm in Unova as an engineer for designing spacecraft to other planets. She was the youngest member of the force at the firm, and she had recently designed a spacecraft to carry humans and Pokémon to Mars that was in the process of being built. She was well-known for her engineering skills, and she specialized in Electric-type Pokémon. Her parents were both dead, and she had no siblings._

_Needed for: Designing and building the main spacecraft for Team Xana to other galaxies._

_Classification: Unwilling._

_Plan of Action: Taken by force from her lab in Unova, first member of Team Xana to have Pokémon injection. Her Magnezone has been taken and inserted into her, and there are no apparent faults or negative symptoms. Now controlled. _

_Status: Captured; Administrator in the Science Labs_

So, as I had originally suspected, Allison never wanted to join Team Xana; she had been classified as unwilling, and she must have fought back when she was first captured. However unwilling she was to join, it didn't even make a difference now. She was an Admin, and she was going along with Clay's plan. It was all Clay's fault.

Now I really needed to see what happened to him. He was able to take someone so talented as Allison, and so good, and turn her into a full member of Team Xana. If she knew what she was doing, if Clay hadn't said it was all right, she would be so against it. Her skills were being abused, and she would never be all right with that.

I clicked on Clay's name, skipping over what felt like a hundred people. Team Xana had more members than I realized, though I knew that some of them had to be dead now. Team Xana didn't take anything lightly, and they had no problem killing people and Pokémon. All these people… most of them had to be dead now.

_Name: Clay Jergens_

_Age: 27_

_Background: Clay Jergens, age 22, worked as an astrophysicist in the Sinnoh region. He created an equation to explain the relation between space and time. He founded Team Xana as an effort to bring people and Pokémon together and explore other galaxies after Team Galactic fell. He specialized in no specific type. His parents were missing during the creation of Team Xana; father was a member of Team Galactic, mother was a member of Team Galactic._

_Needed for: Not applicable_

_Classification: Founder_

_Plan of Action: Not applicable_

_Status: Boss_

He founded Team Xana as an effort to bring people and Pokémon together and explore other galaxies? That made him sound like a good guy, and clearly he wasn't. Though, it was interesting to note that his parents were both members of Team Galactic before it fell; it explained a lot of his interest in space, as well as his evil tendencies.

"Having fun, are we? Learning a lot?" a voice snapped behind me, and I gasped, spinning around in the chair and looking up at Clay. He crossed his arms, shaking his head so his black hair bounced. If I had never seen him angry—really angry—before, then this had to be it. He looked so undeniably pissed at me, and I wondered if this was a mistake. Perhaps I should not have let Silver bring me down here. He could get in trouble.

"Oh, don't worry; I'll deal with him later. But I still need him, and you, so neither of you will be eliminated. Lucky, really. Had you both been anyone else, you wouldn't be alive right now," Clay continued, walking over and pressing the power button on the computer. It shut down, and I winced. I hadn't gotten to read about anyone else.

Clay sighed, his pissed expression being replaced by a calmer one. I furrowed my eyebrows, wondering if his generally cool demeanor was courtesy of Mew, who was a genuinely calm and kindhearted Pokémon. Honestly, Clay had never done anything to me, directly, that was really all that harmful. It was his indirect actions that hurt.

"Who did you miss? Which of the Admins? Henry, Lindsey, and Silver?"

I didn't understand where he was going with this, but I nodded. So, he smiled, completely forgoing his otherwise annoyed expression. "I'll probably regret this, but that just means I have to change the execution time for the plan," Clay said, and I still had no idea what he was talking about. The plan? Execution time? Why did that matter to me? "I'll start with me. There are a few things I need to elaborate on."

He was going to tell me? But how honest would he actually be? I wasn't sure if I should pay attention or completely ignoring him. Yet, knowing how villains worked, I figured listening to him could help me later on, whether he told me the truth or not. I already knew so much about him, and the added details might help.

"My parents were both members of Team Galactic. They joined after I was born, of course, and I was already in college at that point. I had always been interested in Pokémon and battling, but my parents took it to a whole new level. Space, to them, was amazing in terms of Pokémon. But I was more interested in the scientific aspect of it. So, I went to college to study astrophysics.

"By the time I graduated, Team Galactic had been taken down by Champion Dawn. I was, of course, disgusted by my parents at this point. They had missed so many things in those few years. So, I stopped speaking to them, and they eventually went missing." He held up his hands when he noticed my pointed expression. "I had nothing to do with it. I have no idea where they went. But it didn't matter. I already had my plan.

"Team Galactic had failed my parents. They didn't even know what they were talking about. They knew nothing of space; they only thought they did. They didn't know anything about Pokémon, either. Pokémon are not meant to be used as tools, but their powers can be used to our advantage. So, I created the PCC. Mew came along to save the Pokémon that I was extracting powers from, so I took it."

I winced in disgust, completely horrified that he could even consider that in the first place. Yet he spoke of his creation of the PCC so casually, as if it was just an idea that simply popped into his head. "You should never have done that! Pokémon should be cared for!" I exclaimed, but he just shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Well, it's a little late now. Anyway, I have bigger plans now—plans that I had only dreamed possible. And with your help, we're going to achieve them. But I won't elaborate on that. You don't need to know." Clay smiled again, and I shook my head. If he thought I was going to help him, he was wrong.

"Now, Lindsey… well, she was my first member, though I made Allison an Admin before her. She just knows how to control people. It wasn't anything special that brought her to Team Xana, unlike with Allison or Henry or even Silver. She grew up without anything and never made anything out of herself. She wanted revenge for the things she missed and the people she lost. Sound like someone you know?" Clay smirked at me, and I narrowed my eyes. He was _not_ turning this around on me. I was the heroine here.

"Cynthia was hard to beat," Clay continued, scratching his cheek. "Silver did it, though. And her Garchomp became a part of Lindsey, giving her an even more amazing ability to control people and get them to do what she wanted through fear. It worked on you, didn't it? She is violent and scary, and she does a good job of keeping control. Which, when you have people unwilling to work for you, is a good thing. Though, now, everyone wants to be here.

"Henry was harder to get to join. He is an engineer, like Allison, but he specializes in building instead of the design. So, with Allison and Henry teamed up, we were able to create that space shuttle in the Science Labs. But it almost didn't happen. Getting people to join is harder than it looks. Most people that lost to us in battle we didn't want, so they were discarded. But when someone was of interest to us, we had to capture them and transform them immediately. You, of course, are an exception.

"He avoided us for a very long time when he found out we were after him. He took his family and escaped his hometown in Hoenn. But one day, his daughter slipped up. We found her lurking around, and we took her. She sent a message to her father for us that if he ever wanted to see her again, he would have to come join us. Of course, he did. His wife vanished, and Lindsey disposed on the daughter. What did Henry need her for anymore?"

"You killed his daughter? After luring him to you in return for her safety?" I shouted, and Clay actually looked bothered by this. "How can you have no value for life? Human life, Pokémon life? You just don't care, do you? You so easily dispose of people like they can be replaced, but they can't! You're a filthy murderer!"

"It was never my idea to hurt anyone." Clay shoved his hands back in his pockets, and I stood, completely baffled. "Sure, I needed people to join Team Xana, but it was always Lindsey who sought revenge. Anyone who lost to us, she took care of them. Anyone who stood in the way of our plans, she took care of them. And anyone whose Pokémon we needed, she took care of them. I just went along with it."

There was a quiet _whoosh_, and Silver popped up next to me, watching Clay wearily. He knew he was in trouble, but I didn't quite know how much trouble that meant.

"Oh, Silver, thank you for coming back for her. That was a nice loophole you found. But I don't want you ever helping Lyra again. In anyway. She can fend for herself. She is, after all, the last Champion. If she made it this far, it's no problem for her." Clay just smiled, as if trying to control his anger in front of me. How odd.

"Lyra, it was a pleasure speaking with you." Clay nodded at me, and I narrowed my eyes. "Silver, the date is going to be moved to tomorrow. I hope that's punishment enough for you. You can bring Lyra back to her cell now. Then leave immediately after."

Silver's eyes widened, and from the way he looked at me, so completely horrified and frightened, I could tell that it really was punishment enough. And whatever that punishment was, it involved me.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Is Clay stupid now for giving all this information? Maybe. But he still knows what he's doing. He's a smart cookie! But I hope that was enough background information for you all. There is a bit more to all of them, but I think that's just for my own personal knowledge.

Here's the basic information about all the Admins (this comes directly from my outline! Whoo-hoo!):

Clay (Boss) – 27 (black hair) (Mew)

Lindsey (Admin) – 38 (brunette) (Pokémon Conversion Center) (Garchomp)

Allison (Admin) – 25 (blonde) (Science Labs) (Magnezone)

Henry (Admin) – 42 (blonde) (Science Labs) (Electivire)

Silver (Admin) – 22 (redhead) (Pokémon Conversion Center) (Gallade)

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.


	9. Chapter Nine

**Chapter Nine**

Before Silver could let go of my arm and teleport away again, I grabbed his other arm, forcing him to look at me. "Wait," I began, and Silver winced. I could feel him subtly pulling his arm, slowly trying to extract himself from my grip to escape. "What's being moved to tomorrow? What's happening tomorrow, and why does it involve me? Is anyone going to be hurt?"

"Lyra, let go of me. I need to leave—I can't help you anymore." Silver tugged harder at his arm now, but I just tightened my grip. He glared at me, and I could tell that the other side of him would be coming out soon. I needed to talk fast, but he was making it too hard to think. Why couldn't he realize that he had a choice here?

Then, something in my brain clicked. "Silver, you are human! You have free will; you don't have to listen to anyone but yourself. So, stop being Clay's pawn and fight back! You don't have to listen to him! Follow your own heart! You're human!" He shook his head, and I sighed. If I couldn't get him to respond through words, maybe I could get him to respond through actions.

So, releasing his arm and quickly moving my hands around to the back of his neck, I pushed his head forward towards mine, kissing him to prove how human we both were. Love had to be stronger than any bond Clay had created, and only humans could have something that beautiful and powerful between them. Silver had the choice here to have me or lose me, and he had already had the second one once before. I wasn't planning on losing again.

And, for a moment, he kissed me back. I felt a sort of shift in him, and his hand managed to move around my waist to my back. But another second passed, and he pushed away from me, shoving me against the dirt wall and vanishing without another word. And I was left alone again, rejected. I lost to Clay. Again.

I banged my fist against the dirt wall, screaming in frustration. "Damn it!" I shouted, annoyed that Clay's hold on Silver was stronger than this. Because I really did love Silver. Even though sometimes, particularly here, I was scared to death of him, I never really forgot how I once felt about him. Back in our teenage days, when none of this had happened, I admired him. I prayed that part of him was still there.

A piece of rock fell against my foot, and I jumped, scared if only because I didn't know what it was at first. But I looked at the hole in the wall, my one source of (little) light and air, seeing that the chunk of rock had fallen away from the edge of the hole when I had banged my fist against it. Why hadn't I thought of this before?

But I knew Clay would figure out what I was up to. He knew everything that was going on in the headquarters all the time, and he would find out what I was up to by breaking away the wall around the hole, just enough that I could squeeze through it. It wasn't a big hole, probably only six inches in diameter, so I would need time. And time was something I didn't have when Clay knew exactly what I was doing.

"Wait," I said to myself, pausing and holding up a finger, shaking it at the hole. "Clay took on Mew's abilities, which makes him a Psychic-type. Theoretically. And this means that he knows what is going on around here through thoughts, not actions. My actions would be completely invisible to him if I blocked out my mind."

So, doing the only thing I knew how to do to distract my mind away from chipping at the wall, I started singing any random song and lyrics that popped into my head. Belting it out, I broke away at the wall, grabbing chunks of dirt and rock and throwing it to the ground beside me. The hole was becoming larger and larger, and I could almost fit my head through it now. Which, of course, wasn't good enough. I needed to keep going.

I managed to break the hole larger enough to barely squeeze through, but before I could even hop up into the hole, Clay appeared in front of me, blocking the hole from me. He put a hand on my shoulder, smiling at me, and I squirmed, trying to pull away from him. But he just slid the hand so his whole arm wrapped around my shoulders, holding me like we were best friends.

"I'm going to let you in on something, Lyra." He continued to grin at me, and I eyed the hole as he turned me around to face it. "You can't control thoughts. But therein lies the beauty of having Mew's powers instead of any other legendary. I have the power to organize my own thoughts and read anyone else's in this building. It's wonderful. And Mew came to us; we didn't even need to go searching for it. Even better, yes?"

"No," I hissed, and Clay just laughed lightly.

"Well, of course not to you: the heroine. Anything I am going to do will seem wrong to you, no matter how right I think I am. Not that I really care." He patted my cheek with his free hand, and I wanted to bite him. "Your thoughts are not a secret, Lyra. I knew everything you were doing down here. The fact that you basically told me you were going to break the hole, and added that you would sing to stop me from hearing… well, that didn't stop me at all. You're human. You can't control your thoughts like I can."

I narrowed my eyes as he spun me again to face him, moving his arm from around my shoulder to just a hand holding my elbow. "Clay, what's so wrong with being human? We have so many talents already. Why do we need the powers of Pokémon to make us better? Why can't we just… live together like we did? There was so much more peace then."

Clay shook his head, and I felt his fingers move up my arm a little, brushing softly against my skin to make me shiver. "The only one breaking the peace is you. There was so much peace here before you came along. But we still need you, so I am glad you showed up, nonetheless." He took his other hand and placed it under his chin, trying to look thoughtful. "Humans were created as flawed beings. Taking the powers from Pokémon prevents us from being so anymore."

"But you're still flawed!" I exclaimed, and Clay looked bothered by my statement. "It doesn't matter what you do to yourself; humans are always going to be flawed individuals because we have the ability to think. You're taking that away from everyone, making yourself the ruler—the only one who has choice. And if the ruler is flawed, then so are they. That's all there is to it. You'll never be perfect. You might have the world, and someday the universe, but you will never be perfect."

"Wrong, Lyra, you're so wrong. I don't—hey!"

I tore away from his grip, jumping through the hole in the wall as fast as I could. I knew he could just teleport in front of me, but a part of me knew that he wasn't going to. He was going to let me run for now because he knew I would never get any more information. But it was only when I attempted to escape the headquarters that he would appear for me again. He would send his lackeys to do the rest now.

He grabbed my ankle, though, as I jumped through the wall. I kicked violently, thrashing to get him away from me, and I finally fell through the wall. He now held one of my shoes, but I didn't really care. I could deal without it. In fact, I didn't need either. So, reaching down and pulling off my other shoe as fast as I could, I chucked it through the hole at him.

"That's for thinking it's okay to touch me; it's not. And secondly, this is what you get from a human who had the ability to think for herself! I have impromptu thought on my part, and that will always be stronger than any psychic abilities that you have!" I shouted, holding my arms out. I winked at him, laughing in spite of him.

"Silver is going to really enjoy tomorrow, then, won't he?" Clay snapped sarcastically, and I dropped my arms. "If you thought killing those Pokémon were bad, just wait."

Just wait? Oh, Arceus, was he going to kill my Pokémon next? But then why would Silver be upset about it? Just because I would be upset? Well, it didn't matter, anyway. I wasn't going to let that happen. I just needed to find the power source for the PCC and cut it off. Without power, they wouldn't be able to hurt any more Pokémon.

"Thanks for the tip," I said, saluting him before running down the dimly lit hallway that my cell connected to. I had no idea where I was, but I would be able to find my way out of here. I just had to.

Of course, it wasn't as though I could go to any of the Admins for help. They were all forbidden to help me at all now, which would include giving directions to the power source for the PCC. But… well, perhaps the Grunts didn't follow the same rules that the Admins followed. It was worth a shot to talk to someone lower than the Admins.

Like Will.

So, I started sprinting, my ankle socks slowly slipping off my feet. I didn't bend down to pull them back up, and if they fell off, they fell off. I didn't care at the moment, and I doubted I would miss them too much, anyhow.

Finding a door at the end of the earthy hallway, I opened it, finding the main hallway that led to the rest of the rooms in the headquarters. I sighed, thankful that I had picked the correct way to run when I jumped out of my cell. Running back would be a tad embarrassing, and it would deplete a lot of time. Tomorrow was coming quickly.

I hurried into the Science Labs, looking around at the Scientists to find any purple-haired. It didn't take me long to spot him, a large group of Scientists gathered around one tiny area with Will right in the back. So, I ran over to him, pulling him aside into a little room. He fidgeted, trying to escape, but I closed the door and stood against it, praying that he couldn't teleport, too.

"Will, please," I begged, staring at him. I had to admit that it was strange seeing him without his mask, and it almost made me doubt that I had taken the right guy. But how many men were there here with purple hair?

He gasped when he finally looked at me, his eyes, usually somewhat shielded behind his mask, growing wider. Maybe he wasn't the only one who looked different—or maybe he was just shocked to see me here. "Lyra, is that you?" I nodded, and he charged at me, hugging me. I laughed, finding this entirely uncharacteristic of him. But I supposed when your Champion—the girl who had defeated you—popped up from the grave, it made people do strange things.

He grabbed my shoulders, holding me far enough away that his arms were fully extended. "You need to get out of here, Lyra. I heard rumors that a Champion had returned, but I never thought you were stupid enough to actually be the one." I sighed, slightly insulted by this. "I'm sorry. But you should really leave. This place is not where you want to be."

"I need you to tell me a few things first," I said, and it was Will's turn to sigh. "Why can you openly admit that this place sucks? None of the Admins have been able to do that. Does Clay have more control over them than he does over you guys? Because that doesn't make any sense to me. They, theoretically, have more power than you."

"He doesn't. He actually has more control over us. But the thing is, I don't think he trusts the Admins very much besides Lindsey. Your friend Silver… Clay always makes sure to have a tight leash on him. He knows that they can't break away, but he knows who willingly joined and who didn't. As for the Grunts, we have a little bit more freedom because we don't know the plan. We're just working and working towards nothing. Not knowing the plan kind of gives us an edge up on the Admins, actually."

Clay didn't trust the Admins, huh?

"So, you can help me, then?" I continued, and Will shook his head. Well, I supposed that made sense, too. He could give me a little information about the plan and the people because he didn't actually know the plan. But he still couldn't "help" me. Clay definitely knew what he was doing here, though I never thought he didn't.

It didn't hurt to try, though. "Well, I just need to know one thing. If you can just give me as much information as you can, that would be super. I need to find out where the power source for the PCC is. I'm going to shut it down." I tried to sound as confident as I could, but I had a feeling one of the Admins was going to come stop me before I could get there.

"I can't tell you that, nor can I give you any hints," Will said, his tone rather morose now. "The PCC is a crucial part of the system for Team Xana, and giving you information on how to destroy it is against the rules. Same thing with the Science Labs. Which, you know, I would actually start with first. You know, if you were planning to take down Team Xana."

I nodded, impressed that Will could actually tell me this much. Unfortunately, I would have to take the PCC out first to save my Pokémon, but if I could take out the Science Labs immediately afterwards… I could delete the data on the computers here, which would hopefully include the coordinates of their launch.

"Okay, I have to put my foot down now."

I hadn't even noticed the door open. Will and I watched wearily as Clay walked into the room, and I had to admit that I was surprised to see him again instead of one of the Admins. But, I guessed, since I was dealing with taking out the organization, maybe he didn't want to send one of the Admins who he didn't trust. And considering Silver was the guy in charge of me, Clay was probably a little concerned.

But he didn't look it.

"You're becoming a tad out of control, Lyra, which is quite unfortunate. I give you quite a bit of freedom here as Team Xana's captive: I let you out of your cell, I let you talk to the other members, I let you talk to me. I let you do a lot of things," Clay continued, and I laughed bitterly. "Freedom" and "captive" probably should not have been used in the same sentence. "But you're abusing this freedom, Lyra. It's time you act like a true captive." He looked at Will with a serious expression, pointing at me. "Knock her out."

"What?" Will demanded, shivering. I noticed his arm twitching, and I gasped.

Clay didn't wait a beat. He kept his eyes firm on Will, the finger pointing at me not even wobbling. "Knock her out, Will. Now."

And just like that, Will reached out and grabbed my neck. I screamed and struggled before my breath was gone, and I felt a sort of lightness in my head. In just a few moments, I let my body relax, and I was greeted by darkness once again.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Happy New Year! I hope 2011 is a great year for all of you!

Unfortunately for Lyra, it might not be. Too bad for her, really. Clay actually got a lot of screen time (and by screen time, I mean… page time… or something) in this chapter. I have a feeling all of you will hate him just a little bit more now. Just a thought.

Will made an appearance, too! Whoo-hoo! I love Will. I think he's adorable. Like, in the game. Maybe he's adorable here, but… whatever. I still like him. XD

As for the next update… I was going to revert to my normal Saturday updating schedule, but I can't update on Saturday. So, I think what I am going to TRY to do is update on Tuesday, January 4th. Hopefully it will work out.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.


	10. Chapter Ten

**Chapter Ten**

Clay wasn't joking when he said that I had to start acting like a true captive. When I awoke, I found my wrists and ankles bound by shackles. I had no idea where they had come from or why Clay would even have them, but they were effective. If Clay wanted me to feel like a prisoner, then I definitely felt like one now.

It was strange to wake up to see an empty PCC. I had never seen it so vacated before; this place was usually packed beyond capacity with workers. The emptiness made the main machine in the center of the room seemed even bigger and more ominous than before, and knowing its capabilities made me sick to my stomach.

But, I had to wonder, why would Clay leave me alone in here?

I carefully rose to my feet, having a difficult time due to the shackles around my wrists and ankles, trying to move silently over to the machine. The jingle of the chains roared within the quiet setting, and I winced with each step. Though I knew it made no difference, as Clay probably knew what I was doing, anyway, I was so used to using stealth when performing heroic actions. But then again, nothing I had done here thus far seemed heroic in the least.

"Going somewhere?"

I stopped, turning only my head to look back at Silver. He shoved his hands in his pockets, looking particularly melancholy, and I smiled weakly at him. Today was the day, and I knew he realized something bad was going to happen. Even though I knew it involved me, I couldn't do anything now. I would never be able to.

"Nah. I can't, now, can I? You're here." I shrugged, holding my shackled wrists up for him to see. "Clay really went all out, didn't he? Shackles?" I laughed, trying to lighten the mood, but it was stupid for me to try. Silver and I were both going to lose, now, weren't we? We were going down just like Ethan and the rest of the Champions.

"Do you know why you're here yet? Have you figured it out?" he asked, his voice soft and monotonous. I raised an eyebrow, finally turning around to face him. In fact, I hadn't really even thought about it. I was more distracted by the fact that the PCC was empty than the fact that I was in it.

Now, I knew. I knew exactly why I was here.

"The same thing happened to you, didn't it, Silver?" I tore my gaze away from his, looking at the iron around my wrists instead. It was rhetorical; I already knew the answer. "When you, me, and Ethan went in, they caught you and gave you the option of joining them. So, you joined Team Xana with the idea that you could eliminate it from the inside. But Clay gave you Pokémon abilities, and you had to obey him. That's what happened, right? And that's what's going to happen to me. I'm really going to lose this one."

"You know, I've heard that you have never lost a battle in your life." Clay had finally arrived, smiling at me like we were old buddies reunited after years. "Up until that battle, what, five years ago, you had never lost a battle. That's pretty amazing. You started your journey when you were only ten years old, and you didn't lose until you were sixteen. Really, Lyra, it's very impressive. You have a natural gift. And that's why I want you."

"The punishment… the plan… What do I even have to do with it? I understand that changing me will be punishment enough for the both of us, but why do you need me for the plan? You didn't even know I was alive until I showed up here. What would you have done if I really was dead? Just given up on your whole plan?" I demanded, shaking my shackled hands at him. Clay eyed them, trying to hold back a laugh, then raised his gaze to meet my eyes.

"Of course not. Your arrival was simply… convenient. Otherwise the other option was to use…" Clay's eyes traveled away from mine and I gasped at where they landed, "Silver."

I stared at the redhead, wondering if he had even known about this. From the looks of it, he appeared just as shocked as I did. Had Clay never told him all of the plan? Will said the Grunts didn't know anything—but it didn't seem like the Admins knew much more. The one who held the reins… he held everything else, too.

Silver finally sighed, closing his eyes for only a moment, as if trying to figure things out in his head. "I'll do it. Don't use her. If it was going to be me before she showed up, then it should still be me. I'm already changed, so you can just pick up from where you left off—"

I held up my shackled hands, and Silver broke off, staring at me. I had a feeling he knew what I was about to say. "No, Silver. Whatever this plan is, I'll do it." And I meant that. I knew it was probably impossible, but if I could keep my own heart and mind after acquiring an ability, it would maybe be easier to eliminate Clay. But… the chances of me actually being able to resist Clay's control were probably null.

"Besides, she still needs to change, or else it wouldn't be punishment, will it?" Clay winked at Silver, and he turned to me, clapping his hands together. "I'm so glad you came along, Lyra. If I ever sounded ungrateful to you, well… too bad. I'm still happy that you're here. You're making things so much easier for me."

"Oh, I imagine so," I muttered, and Clay laughed. "And you never sounded ungrateful. I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Right. I thought so. Well, off we go! Load the computer, Silver," Clay said, and Silver grimaced. I could tell that Silver was fighting hard, but no matter how much he fought, he had to obey Clay. So, he walked over to the machine in the center of the room and opened a drawer. From my level, I could see that it was filled with Poké Balls to the brim.

"Which one?"

Clay laughed once again, and Silver froze. Why was this comical? "Not _one_, Silver. Fifteen." Silver's eyes grew wide, and I narrowed mine. What did that mean? "Her Typhlosion, Umbreon, Dewgong, Noctowl, Ampharos, and Tyranitar. Champion Lance's Dragonite. Champion Wallace's Milotic. Champion Steven's Metagross. Champion Adeku's Ulgamoth. Champion Red's Pikachu. Champion Brendan's Swampert. Champion Dawn's Infernape. Champion Blue's Pidgeot. Champion Cynthia's Lucario. All of them. Load them all onto the computer."

All of them? So _that_ was where all of the Champion's Pokémon had gone. Their prized Pokémon, their best friends, were saved for me, with the exception of Champion Cynthia's Garchomp. The rest of them—well, they didn't sound like they were needed anymore. So, had they been tossed aside, just like the rest of the Champions? Eliminated like pests?

And my Pokémon… my beloved partners… this was it. If I wanted to save Silver, this was my sacrifice. At least if they had to go, a part of them would be left with me.

"Are you crazy?" Silver demanded, but he was reaching into the drawer and picking Pokémon out, anyway. It seemed a little late to be asking that now; I had deemed Clay as crazy since the moment I first saw him. "If you try to give her the abilities of all those Pokémon, she's going to die! There's no way that her body will be able to handle that! You're going to kill her, Clay!"

"Well, I'm betting I won't." Clay smiled, walking over to me and patting my shoulder. "You see, she's the last Champion. It would have been you eventually, Silver, as I said. Compared to the other Champions, your heart and mind are far beyond theirs. Your body could, I think, handle the additional fourteen. But Lyra here… well, she's the last Champion, and I realized when she appeared here that her heart and mind even exceed the capacity of yours. The pure fact that she made it this far… well, she's got a lot in her, hasn't she?"

So, all along, I would have died just like every other Champion. But the only reason I was alive now was _because_ I lived. Because I survived when no other Champion did, because I had a stronger heart and a stronger mind than Silver, I received this punishment. Because I was determined to take Team Xana down, this was what I got.

Clay grabbed my arm, pulling me over to a chair beneath some odd shaped contraption. It looked like a shrinking ray of sorts, and I half expected a beam to shoot out of it. Even the chair looked like something you would see at death row, with iron bars to hold down the arms and legs. Clay unlocked me from my shackles just to put me in those, and it wasn't any more comfortable.

"Hit the button," Clay ordered Silver, backing away from me and leaning against the huge machine instead. Silver had loaded all of the Poké Balls onto the conveyor belt, and there was nothing left to do but hit that dreaded button. There was nothing left for me to do. I could fight and struggle, but where would that get me?

Silver hit the button. With a loud whirring noise, the machine roared to life. I sat in the chair, unable to do anything else, and waited for my fate. It took longer than I thought. I could hear Silver typing things into the computer, and I knew Clay was watching and listening to what he was doing. And then… a light.

It was silent. My whole body just felt so empty, contrary to what I would have thought. I couldn't see anything anymore, and all the voices that I knew where speaking clearly around me just sounded like muffled whispers. I let myself relax, slumping over in the chair, so horribly weak, so unbelievably calm.

"Lyra. Lyra. Lyra? She's not responding."

The voices were beginning to come in clearer now, but I couldn't lift my eyelids enough to see anything. If anything, I felt more like a zombie than a mutant. But… well, I was still alive, wasn't I? Just like Clay said…

"Her system is rebooting," I heard Silver say, his voice shaking angrily. "She's stable. That's a lot of energy to take in at one time, and each body reacts to it in a different way. Her senses are still active except for vision right now, but that always takes the longest to come back. Hearing, touch, smell, and taste are working."

"So, she can hear us right now?" There was a silence, and I really wished I could just open up my eyes and look at them. I wanted to curse them out for doing this to me. "I can't hear what she's thinking, though."

This had to come as a surprise to Silver, since he stayed quiet for a moment. "I can't, either. Well, as I said before, each body reacts differently to it. Maybe giving her the abilities of fifteen Pokémon negates the Psychic effects for a little while until each ability settles. Or maybe it negates them completely. She is a prototype, after all."

"Right. Well, we'll come back to that later." Clay paused again, and I could picture the smile on his face as he watched me slumped over in the chair. "Lyra, I think it's time I told you the plan. The equation to narrow the space-time continuum has been completed, so with your help, we're going to get things moving.

"You're our superhuman; with all the abilities given to you, you should be able to protect your body in any situation. We will be sending _you_ in the space shuttle to the rest of the universe as our weapon and negotiator. You said once that I could never control infinity, but… I will control infinity. You are the only person whose body will not be able to handle the space-time continuum in a narrowed state.

"Once we get you out there in the universe, you will conquer everything else. And once we conquer everything else… well… we build an utopia of sorts. You do know how everything in the world relies on money? We have been living here in the headquarters without any money, completely fine. We will completely rid the universe of monetary value, making everything that exists only necessary. Team Xana is really a benevolent group, you know."

Benevolent? Sure, it sounded like a good idea—ridding the world of money. It theoretically eliminated greed, but making everything free didn't make sense. Resources here on Earth were not unlimited, and even the necessary things couldn't be free. Money or no money, there would always be someone who was unhappy…

"Controlling the rest of the universe gives us access to other resources. And we need to eliminate all other forms of life out there to ensure that the human race reigns supreme. Also, by giving Pokémon powers to everyone, I have full control over everybody. Nothing bad will ever happen while I'm in charge. It really is a foolproof plan. There is no reason why you should have ever wanted to stop us."

"You… killed my… friends… and family," I muttered, and Clay laughed giddily.

"Ah, she's communicating! Well, dear Lyra, we only keep the best of the best here with Team Xana. Weed out the pests, right, as Lindsey said? And we will continue to do so. That will be your job. But, hey, I wasn't too thrilled about it to start, either. But it's what we have to do." Clay laughed again, and I sighed angrily. I couldn't do anything else, though I was beginning to feel more and more energy fill into my body. It was like a coffee start in the morning; I just hoped there was no low in the afternoon.

Clay believed there was no reason I should have ever wanted to stop them—but right there was why I needed to. Everyone and everything deserved a chance at life. How could I not be negative when he was "weeding" people out?

Wait. How could I not be negative? I _was_ thinking negatively… I wasn't obeying him. Well, I would have to use that to my advantage.

"Yes, Boss," I just said instead. It wasn't like he needed to know. Yet.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Did you get that reference? I'm not going to discuss it if you didn't because it's generally a sore subject, but the last part of his plan—Lindsey's part—is a common reference in literature. A lot of bad guys in literature allude to this in their plans and stuff. Not directly, but… even Grindelwald and Voldemort in Harry Potter do.

I originally meant for the transference of abilities to be very painful. Unfortunately, I couldn't stop picturing Twilight in my head and thinking about the transformation into a vampire. Curse you, Twilight! But oh well. I think the more… peaceful, weakening way is all right, too. I hope.

I literally have no idea when I can update next… but let's go with Thursday, January 13th. I know it's a long ways away, sorry.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Chapter Eleven**

Now I felt weird.

Weird was an understatement. I felt disgusting, heavy, saturated like a sponge. Everything that I hadn't felt when I first acquired the abilities of all those Pokémon I felt now. And there were so many different types of Pokémon in me that everything inside of me seemed to conflict with everything else. The pain I hadn't felt in me before was here now, like a constant headache.

I didn't tell anyone about it. When Clay led me to my new room—I wasn't really a prisoner anymore, now that I was "under his control"—I didn't have to try too hard to look completely pathetic. He had no idea that he couldn't tell me what to do, but I just played along with it. I needed a plan before he figured it out on his own.

My legs felt like iron weights. I hoped Clay didn't notice.

Every member of Team Xana, since I was now officially a member, got their own bedroom and bathroom; how the headquarters had room for all that, I didn't know. The headquarters was far larger than I previously imagined, but most of the space was reserved for the bedrooms. It was like a mini hotel.

Even the bedroom reminded me of a mini hotel room. A small double bed, a dresser (for what—I didn't have anything with me anymore), an empty stand where a television would normally have sat. A door led off into the bathroom which was more impressive than the bedroom; a porcelain toilet, free-standing bathtub, gold-framed mirror.

I didn't have too much time to take in the sights of my new bedroom, though. By the time Clay dropped me off in the room, I had barely made it to the toilet before I threw up in it. He noticed this. Joining me in the bathroom, he reached down, putting a "soothing" hand on my back and brushing my hair aside. His fingers lingered against my neck, holding my hair as I vomited. I couldn't find the power to swat him away.

"How unusual. The effects of multiple abilities must be making you sick. Hopefully it isn't eating you from the inside out," Clay said. That didn't make me feel any better. "Can you last for a moment alone? I have to get back to preparations, so I'll send Silver over to help you." He paused, letting my hair fall forward. "It's good to have you on our side now. I think you'll agree that ours is the right one."

I threw up into the toilet again.

He left me alone for only a moment, as he said. In another second, Silver popped up behind me, and unlike Clay, he just stood there and watched as I emptied my stomach. He didn't pull my hair out of the way, he didn't rub my back… he didn't do anything. And I never appreciated anything more than this.

"Silver," I muttered, wiping my mouth with my arm. I tried to turn my head to look at him, and my head throbbed again. "Silver, I can't—" I turned back to the toilet, throwing up once more. I didn't know what I had left to lose, but it just kept coming up. I felt so sick; compared to the transference of abilities, this was hell.

"Clay shouldn't have done what he just did to you. There's no way your body can handle all those abilities at once. No one can. You're going to give up more than you have." Silver finally sat down on the tiled floor of the bathroom, but he only leaned against the counter beside the toilet. With a sigh, he handed me a towel.

I knew exactly what he was thinking. Now that the abilities were starting to sink into my DNA, I wouldn't be able to handle all the changes. As Clay wondered, the Pokémon were going to eat me from the inside out. I was going to lose everything within me, and they would kill me. Just as Silver predicted, I would die.

"Not… yet…"

Grabbing the edge of the toilet, I tried to push myself to my feet. Silver jumped to my side as my legs collapsed, stopping me from hitting my head on the toilet. But I vomited again, and Silver pushed my head to the toilet. I wiped my mouth with the towel he handed me, looking up into his red eyes.

"No. I'm the strongest one here. I'm not going down that easily," I snapped angrily, managing to get that much out before looking back into the toilet. I wiped my mouth again, but I kept my gaze at the toilet just in case. "It just takes some getting used to. I'll be fine. Come on, Pokémon. All of you in me! You can trust me!"

Silver scooted away from me, looking painfully upset. "You may have the strongest heart and mind or whatever Clay thought… but you don't have the strongest body. You're incredibly underweight, and you're weak. You don't have the body to handle all of these Pokémon. With all of their abilities inside you… there's going to be conflict. You can't handle it."

I felt something strange come over me, and I turned on Silver, pointing a finger at him. How dare he talk to me like that? Who did he think he was? Compared to me, he was a pathetic little boy! I was, after all, the only Champion left. I should have been treated like royalty, and here he was, acting like I was some chick who screamed when she broke a nail.

"Let me tell _you_—"

Silver flicked me on the arm, and I grabbed the spot with my other hand, gaping at him. How old was he, anyway? Ethan and I used to flick each other to get us to shut up when we were really little kids, and now Silver was in on it as a twenty-two year old? He was pathetic. I should have known this whole time how sad a man he was.

"You need to—"

"Sorry, I just wanted to see something." Silver sighed again, and I narrowed my eyes before throwing up into the toilet once more. "You're just reacting with the more physical Pokémon that have taken over. Your Tyranitar, for instance… she's always been a tad moody, hasn't she? Women…"

The anger disappeared as quickly as it came along, and I grabbed my head as another headache passed through. Did I really have no control over that? What happened to my confidence in stopping Team Xana now? I had no idea what receiving these abilities meant. If I really wanted to use these to my advantage, I needed more control.

"I'm sorry. I'm feeling a little bit better now," I lied, though it was partially true. I didn't feel quite as queasy now, but the headache was stronger than before. And knowing that I really had no control over myself made me feel worse. "Can I tell you something, Silver? Perhaps in a room where it doesn't smell like this?"

I nodded over to the bedroom, and Silver glanced over his shoulder before nodding. "Yeah… you might want to clean up a little, though. So it won't smell later."

Smiling weakly—and regretting even that as pain shot through my head—I threw the towel in the sink. "Okay. You go in the bedroom and wait for a minute, okay?" A second had barely passed before Silver walked out of the room without another word. In fact, it was strangely fast. No hesitation, no comments, no anything…

Clay had provided me with everything: a toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, soap, and all the other hygienic necessities. I brushed my teeth to get the vulgar taste out of my mouth, and I threw the towel into the little hamper beside the shower.

It was weird looking into a mirror. The bathroom I used while I was a prisoner had no mirror, so seeing me now was frightening. Silver was right; I looked horribly weak and grimy. My hair was matted against my face, greasy and wild. My collarbones protruded out of me like mountains out of the earth, and when I lifted my dirty shirt, I could see my ribs. I never saw myself so pitiable before, but if anyone did pity me, I understood why.

I was one sad final Champion.

That didn't stop me from trying to walk into the bedroom with my head held high, determined to get something figured out. I was feeling a little better, and I hoped that was a good sign for my survival. And I couldn't help but be glad that all these Pokémon were with me instead of someone else. Mine, Lance's, Red's, Blue's… I prayed they were okay with me.

Silver was standing as I entered the room, looking unsure whether he could sit on my bed or not. "Sit down!" I said, gesturing to my bed, and—just as quickly as he had walked out of the bathroom—he hastily took a seat. I noticed as he furrowed his eyebrows, looking completely mystified.

"Tell me to do something else," Silver demanded, holding a finger up. I bit my lip, unsure of what this would prove. Why?

"Go walk into the bathroom and then come back."

Silver rose to his feet and walked into the bathroom, just like I told him, but as soon as he reached it, he turned right back around. As he sat back down on the bed, I laughed, my head throbbing once again (if anything needed to go away next, it was the headaches). What was he doing? Was he going crazy?

"So? You can walk into a bathroom."

Silver shook his head. "I had no choice. With any of that stuff. You told me to do something, and I had to do it. You told me to leave the bathroom, and my legs started moving. You told me to sit down, and I sat like an obedient dog. You told me to go into the bathroom and come back, and I had to do that. I had no choice. Just like with Clay."

Just like with Clay? Well, what the hell did that mean? Maybe—no. It couldn't be. That didn't make any sense. Mew was the strongest Pokémon.

"Silver… I don't have to obey Clay. Back there, right after the transference… he told me to not think negatively, and I didn't have to. I could think whatever I wanted to. And he said he couldn't read my mind anymore—"

"I can't either. I haven't been able to at all. Ever since you… shit." Silver laughed, this being the first time I had _ever_ heard his laugh, and he jumped to his feet. "Lyra! You're the new Master!" He laughed again, grabbing my arm and swinging me around. It was strange that the first time I ever saw Silver really happy was in such a precarious predicament like this.

"The thinking negatively thing doesn't make much sense, honestly. I can think whatever I want. Clay really doesn't have much control over that since that mind thinks what it wants. But maybe it's true. And I have to listen to you now, Clay can't read your thoughts and neither can I… I could never read Clay's mind. You're the new Master."

I put a hand over my mouth, completely disbelieving this. Had I just taken the reins away from Clay? Did he just land himself in a position of weakness from his own foolish actions? By believing himself to be superior, did he just cause his own downfall? Could I really win this thing? Did I have it set?

"We should test this, Silver. We should make sure—oh…" I grabbed the sides of my head with both of my hands, closing my eyes as a wave of something—I wasn't quite sure what—passed through me. "I need to… lie down… No! I can't now—oh no…"

The smile fell off his face before it had been there for too long. "Hold on, Lyra." Silver scooped me up with ease, feeling my forehead with the back of one of his hands. "Come on, you stupid Pokémon, don't kill our only hope before we've even tried to stop Clay. I need her alive. And so do you."

Without anything left to say, he teleported us out of the room, bringing me to help wherever I could find it.

* * *

**Author's Note:** A lot of people have asked me if Team "Xana" came from Code Lyoko. Just to clarify (I've told the people who asked individually, but for the rest of you), it didn't. Actually, I've never even heard of Code Lyoko! This is just an extremely odd coincidence! :D

So, I've been replaying Pearl… Team Xana is based a lot off of Team Galactic (just because they are seriously the weirdest and best villain group yet, and they have the coolest battle music), and so I looked up stuff about Team Galactic as sort of… research for this fanfiction. How the heck is Cyrus 27 (which is, coincidentally, the same age as Clay)? He does NOT look 27. He looks, like, 40. I don't get it… XD

For those of you who are curious as to why this update took so long, it's because I went to Florida to go to the Harry Potter park. It was AMAZING. If you have the chance to go, then go. The Flight of the Hippogriff ride isn't worth the wait if it's longer than 20 minutes (it's like a little kid rollercoaster), the Dragon's Challenge ride is fun (it used to be Dueling Dragons, so I've been on it before), and the ride in the castle was spectacular. And I went to Disney, too. I've been there so many times, I should just live in the parks.

Update next Tuesday, January 18th.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Chapter Twelve**

I felt better when I awoke. The headache was gone, and I didn't feel as nauseous as before (though my muscles were stiff and my back ached a little). Overall, though, it felt no different than anything else I had ever experienced before, and it was nothing I couldn't handle. A little back ache was nothing. I could deal with this.

The feeling of relief was short lived, however, once I saw Silver sitting in a chair beside my bed with a horrified expression on his face. He was gripping the arm-rests of the chair so tightly that his knuckles were white, his feet tapping against the floor nervously. His bloodshot eyes focused on a single spot on the wall, narrowed angrily.

I sat up, reaching over and grabbing his hand. But as soon as I touched him, he shot out of the chair, staring at me with those same bloodshot angry eyes. There it was: the switch. He had gone from completely calm one moment to freaked out the next. I didn't know what happened while I was sleeping, but whatever happened, it had been bad. Silver had become better at controlling his emotions with me around, but now he lost it.

"Silver, what's wrong?" I asked, not a demand for him to tell me. I wanted him to tell me because he wanted to, not because I told him to. But a sense of urgency in the back of my mind reminded me that I didn't have time for him to come to me. There was no time for anything anymore. Everything needed to be done quickly. "Tell me."

"Did Clay hurt you?" Silver's voice shook dangerously, and I narrowed my eyes. What did he mean by that? Silver knew what Clay was like. Clay had hurt me, sure, but not in the ways that one would think. But there were multiple ways. "He hurt you, didn't he? Not physically, but I could _see_ it, Lyra. I saw what he did."

Oh. I knew. I knew what he was talking about.

"There's something new. Before, I could only see whatever Clay wanted me to find in his head. There were thoughts that were off-limits, thoughts that he restricted for Admins. Stuff like that. But I never got full access." He made fists of his hands, his knuckles turning white again. If I opened his palms, I would expect to see nail marks. "I have it now."

"What?" I asked, a little confused.

"I can see everything in his mind now. Like when I could read your mind, I can do the exact same thing with Clay now. And I saw what he did to you." He practically growled as he smacked a hand against the wall. I jumped, staring at the dent in the wall. Had that been me there… well, I wouldn't be just a dent in the wall. "Why didn't you fight back? Why didn't you tell him off? Are you okay with that? Are you all right with being his pet?"

I narrowed my eyes, trying to keep my cool. One of us had to if Silver couldn't, but I could feel the anger bubbling just like it had before. And in a second, I completely lost it, the fury exploding from me at the accusation. I was not some pet, I was not some toy, and I was definitely not someone to be messed with anymore.

"Shut up! I was never okay with that, but it wasn't like I had a choice, you asshole. Stop accusing me of being okay with it because I never was. You're crazy, Silver!" I screamed at him, and it felt completely all right to yell like that. My knuckles were probably as white as his now, but my hands didn't hurt. I couldn't feel anything. "Stop being so jealous! You never even acted like you cared before, so stop acting like you do now. I'm clearly nothing special to you, so just leave me alone! I don't care!"

Silver walked closer to me, his hands shaking. I punched him in the chest, pounding at him in pure fury, but he didn't even move. It was like hitting a brick wall, but I couldn't feel the damage on myself. So, I just kept hitting and hitting and hitting, going on and on until I felt so completely drained and empty that I just couldn't hit anymore.

Then, I fell to the floor, bawling into my newly red hands. The anger was gone and replaced by so many conflicting emotions that I just couldn't handle it. I didn't want to be angry; it was stupid. In fact, it didn't make much sense to be angry at him. He was just stating something, and it wasn't like he could control his temper either.

"Oh, look here! I guess he found out, didn't he?" Clay asked, popping into the room without an introduction. He was grinning from ear to ear, looking pleased with himself. "I'm sorry, Lyra. It unfortunately had to play out this way. But thank you for your cooperation. I can stop being such a lowlife creep now."

Silver charged forward towards Clay, but Clay pulled me up, pushing me in front of him to separate him from Silver. The redhead stopped immediately, but he pointed a finger, his red irises looking more like pools of blood than anything else. His face was strained, creases forming along his eyebrows and mouth.

"Was this part of the plan?" I asked Clay without turning around. He had back away from me, not touching me like he usually would have. "You wanted this to happen, didn't you? That's why you kept—"

"Correct. But I wasn't expecting to put it into action this early. Either way, it worked out fine." Clay clicked his tongue as Silver started forward again. "But allow me to let you in on a little secret, dearest Champion. I can't hear your thoughts anymore, but I can still hear his. Everything that you've told him is accessible to me. So, the fact that you are the most powerful one here… well, I can work around that."

As Silver ran forward again, I held my arms out, stopping him as he tried to run around me. I probably should have let him maul the heck out of Clay, but I couldn't let him do that. Not yet. There was still too much to do, and I needed Clay to get access to the main computer. Without him, I didn't know anything.

"Not if you have to listen to me! Now—"

"Silver will die, you know, if he stays in this state too long. I neglected to mention this tiny detail to you before, didn't I?" Clay interrupted, and I finally turned around to look at him. He wasn't smiling anymore, but there was still a look of amusement in his eyes. For someone who said he never planned to murder anyone, he sure seemed to be okay with it now.

"_That_ was your plan, Clay?" Silver shouted, and I turned back to him, rubbing his arms in attempt to calm him down. But I could feel the rage bubbling once again, and I was so horribly disgusted by what Clay was saying. He could mess with me all he wanted. He could be a creep. But once he endangered my friend—the one boy I had left, the one boy I loved more than anything—that was pushing it a little too far.

"I wanted to wait until we sent you up into space, Lyra. Once you are up there, we really don't need Silver anymore. He was more of a babysitter than an Admin. Lindsey could handle the PCC on her own. Since we don't need Silver up in space anymore—because you're here—we really don't need him." Clay sounded bitter now, his voice growing dark. I was really starting to lose it now.

"I made a careless error. I thought Mew was strongest and would be able to rule over the Pokémon inside you. Clearly not. You're the authority now; you need not go prove it. And now that you have taken away my Trainer class, I am technically on the same level as everyone else. I have to obey you, other Psychics can read my mind… you have belittled me. But you have given me an advantage, still. The thoughts will continue, and Silver will be able to read them—unless you continue to follow through with our plan. If you don't, he'll most likely remain in the state he's in now, and… well, like I said, he'll die." Clay smirked as I turned back around, my eyes narrowed at him.

I shook my head. "You have to listen to me. I'm not going to let you hurt Silver. Leave him alone. I'm taking this organization down," I retorted, making the threat sound more intimidating than it probably was. Considering I had just replaced Clay as the Master Trainer, he seemed all too calm about it.

Clay clicked his tongue again, and Silver groaned angrily. The two boys were getting rowdy, but I was about to lose it. "You may have noticed that it's very difficult to control thoughts. Earlier when you were discussing your ability to think negative thoughts when I told you specifically not to—you can really think anything you want. Thoughts are very random; you can't tell one person to think one thing. My control here was based on actions, not thoughts, and that will be the same for you. And no one will be able to read yours because of the power you hold. Having two Dark-types in you doesn't help… another error on my part. Oh, and I wouldn't be the one hurting Silver. He'd be hurting himself."

Right. Thoughts were very sporadic things. And since Clay had such a powerful Psychic-type in him, he could organize his thoughts better than any of us. Even if Silver had access to all of Clay's thoughts now, Clay could still control what was visible because of his organization; sporadic was not an option for him. And if I couldn't control what he thought, if I didn't do what he said, I would effectively kill Silver.

There had to be a loophole somewhere. There was always a loophole. I just needed to find it. I was the one with the power here.

"Fine. You want to do this, then let's do it," I said, crossing my arms. Whatever happened to Champion Lyra? Well, I was her, wasn't I? Wasn't I the one who was supposed to save everyone now. Didn't I battle my way to the top? "We're going to have a battle. I am going to randomly divide your reserved battling Pokémon. If I win, you step down and give me complete access to the main computer so I can shut Team Xana down. If you win, I'll go to space."

"Are you stupid, Lyra?" Silver demanded, punching my arm. I doubted he truly meant to do it that forcefully, but his anger prevented him from being any nicer about it. "You're in control here! Just tell him to give you access to the computers, and he has to give it to you. You're making a huge mistake! You're not going to win!"

Well, Silver was right. I could do it that way. It was the smart way, the faster way, and wasn't I the one who said we didn't have any more time? But I needed to battle him. In a strange sense, it was always the way that I found victory. And you could learn a lot about a person through a battle—you could evoke a lot.

So… I could evoke Mew. The loophole.

It was more than just a battle. I couldn't just tell Clay to change, to get rid of his evilness, to get Mew to wake up. It didn't work that way. The smart way was to just tell Clay to give me access to the computers. But my way was to wake Mew up and change Clay. He might have been evil, but Mew certainly wasn't. It came to save the rest of the Pokémon. How could that be evil?

"Right. You won't win," Clay agreed. "But I like your style. You have an interesting way of doing things, Lyra. I guess that's the way of the Champion, isn't it?"

"No." I shook my head, holding my arms out. "It's my way. Revenge was never my thing."

Silver sighed exasperatedly, and Clay just chuckled. Either way, I was clearly doing something wrong. And maybe I really was. Maybe I needed to do it the easy way, just tell him to give me the access. But even if I lost, I could still get that information. I was in control, right? It was just an extra step along the way to victory.

"Well, then, Lyra…" Clay laughed again, this time louder. "You'll love this."

* * *

**Author's Note:** If I could point out one thing about this chapter, it's the line where Lyra says, "Revenge was never my thing." It is SUCH a contrast to the first chapter, and I really think that's one of the main motifs of this story. You saw along the way how Lyra kept failing miserably whenever she tried to get "revenge".

And I think Lyra is stupid, too. If I were her, I would just tell Clay to give me all the information I need. What the heck is she doing? XD And a new twist with the whole "multiple personalities" thing with Silver! How nice! It will be explained more in the next chapter why staying in the angry state is damaging. Clay didn't really get a chance to explain it in this chapter.

This story is coming to a close soon. There are still a few chapters left, of course, and I have a lovely ending planned that will blow your minds (happy, sad—well, I won't say). Next update is Saturday, January 22nd.

But I already have another multi-chapter fanfiction planned that I am super excited for. It's not angsty, either! It's a romance/humor! I have to say, it's COMPLETELY different from anything else I've ever written, and a little more intense. I have a feeling a lot of you will be surprised considering it's me… haha.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Chapter Thirteen**

"Legendaries!" I exclaimed, looking at the Poké Balls spread out in Clay's bedroom. He kept them stowed away, safe from everyone else in a case that looked like it belonged in a museum. Beneath each Ball listed the name of the species inside, and it was amazing to see that Clay had so many of them, if not all. All that survived, anyway.

"Told you that you'd love this," Clay said, shoving his hands in his pockets and smiling slyly at me, his white teeth flashing. The poor Pokémon. As soon as I was done with this battle, I was setting them all free. They weren't meant to be captured and held in storage like this. Legendary Pokémon needed to be left alone. "Of course, there's more to it than that."

I stared at him, wondering how in the world he got all of these legendaries. They must have appeared here trying to save the other Pokémon, only to be captured themselves. It was a rare treat to meet a legendary Pokémon, as I knew from my encounter with Lugia all those years ago. And here the poor thing was, trapped in a case like someone behind bars. Trapped like me in this awful place. But not for long.

"Take them out." I pointed to the case, and Clay opened the glass door on the side. "Keep them in their Balls, but shuffle them all up. Then, pick six out—randomly—and give three to me and three to you. This will be a three-on-three battle. Just a quick little match. And, as promised, if I win, you give me access to the main computer. If you win, I'll go through with the plan."

Clay's grin grew even larger, and he looked back at Silver as he pulled all the Poké Balls out of the case and poured them onto his bed. "How are you feeling back there?" He shuffled the Poké Balls around on his bed, staring at Silver. "It's bad for him to stay in one state too long, even his more… neutral state. He has to have a balance between the two, which is why he is enraged so easily. Though, he can stay in his neutral state longer because it's not quite as damaging. The negative state takes its toll quickly; he uses more energy in the negative state, and it will cause severe pain and death," he told me, keeping his eyes on Silver.

"Yeah, and it's all because you're a fuc—"

I grabbed Silver's arm as he started towards Clay, shaking my head at him. "He's not worth it. Try venting a different way. Go sit down and try to be calm like you did with me before, okay?" I smiled weakly at him, but he just glared at me before going over to the corner of the room and curling up against the wall.

Plus, I sort of needed Clay alive for this. If I let Silver have his way with Clay, then I was pretty much screwed. But _after_ I got what I wanted, Silver was free to do whatever the hell he wanted with the guy. Especially if my whole plan with Mew didn't work out. The chances were not in my favor, but it was worth a try.

"Here," Clay said, handing me three Poké Balls and keeping three in his own grip. "I don't know what's in either, so we're battling blindly here. But that shouldn't matter. I'm just looking forward to battling the last Champion. I have a feeling you'll be able to control whatever Pokémon you get just as well as you control the rest of us."

I crossed my arms, holding the Poké Balls carefully. "That's not the point. Battling is about working together as a team for purposes of introspection. It has nothing to do with control." I looked down at the Poké Balls I held, nodding at them. I was a natural in the battlefield because I understood the point of a team. "Just trust me, you guys."

Clay walked towards me, grabbing my arm while holding his three Poké Balls in his other hand; Silver jumped to his feet, hurrying over to me with a furious expression, but Clay just held up a hand. "Calm down. There's an arena that we need to go to beside the PCC, but there's no door. Teleportation is the only way to get in."

Silver still didn't look pleased, but I wasn't sure he would for awhile. Reluctantly, he held onto my other arm, and with a tunneling feeling, we vanished and reappeared in a large arena. There were no spots for spectators, but the field itself was impressive in size. The ceiling seemed to go up forever, but I could barely make out that it was not finished; the ceiling was still just made of earth. The walls, however, were plastered only about halfway.

"Funny that you had this the whole time and didn't mention it to anyone, Clay… funny that you'd keep it," Silver hissed, his tone bitingly bitter. He let go of my arm, walking away towards the side that I would probably claim as mine. Clay just smiled as Silver walked away, dropping his grip on my arm as well.

And before walking away to his side, he winked at me and sang, "Good luck!" in a surprisingly calm tone.

What was going on?

I hadn't really battled in awhile, but it was like riding a bike. Once you got on, it was surprisingly natural and hard to forget. Though I had plenty of reason to be nervous, it would be better for me and the Pokémon if I wasn't. So, I took a deep breath before standing at the edge of the field, looking down at my Poké Balls. I'd be fine. I'd be fine. It was just another battle.

One that I had lost before. But that was beside the point. I wouldn't lose again.

"Three-on-three battle," I ruled, and Clay gave me a thumbs up. "No switching allowed. Let's play."

Clay laughed, throwing a Poké Ball out onto the field. It erupted, sending out a Heatran onto the field, and the Poké Ball flew back into his hand. A Heatran, huh? Well, I had never seen one of them before, but I knew that it was a Fire and Steel-type with a severe weakness to Ground-type attacks and not much else.

I grabbed one of my Poké Balls, setting the rest next to my feet, and threw it out into the field. An Articuno materialized out of it, and the Poké Ball flew back to my hand. I had never seen an Articuno either, but it was an Ice and Flying-type with weakness to Fire. And both Ice and Flying were terrible against Heatran. But no matter. I could still win.

"Articuno, just bare with me. I'm Lyra, and I'm here to save you!" I shouted to the large bird, and it cried at me. Then, as it met my eyes for a moment, I smiled at it. It understood. "Good. Now, you're faster, and you have the advantage of the air above the field. Use that to your advantage. Do you know Ancientpower? Use that!"

"Heatran, use Lava Plume! Careful with your aim!"

Articuno was fast, sending a shower of rocks towards Heatran, but Heatran's aim was impressive. My blue bird fell out of the sky, crashing to the ground in front of me, engulfed in flames. But it wasn't done yet. Shaking it off, Articuno flapped its wings, and flew back up. I knew it couldn't go down that easily.

"I know it's not going to be super effective against it, but use Blizzard!"

"Endure that hit, Heatran, and use Stone Edge!"

Articuno opened its beak, a powerful blast exploding from it towards Heatran. I knew it wouldn't do much damage, but I could see Heatran was bothered by it. The second the Blizzard faded away, Heatran jumped at Articuno, who had swooped down low for its attack, and nailed it with its Stone Edge.

"Nice work, Articuno. Thank you," I told it as it collapsed in front of me again. I returned it to its Poké Ball, picking out another one and throwing it out. An Aerodactyl flew out, circling the field before lowering its gaze at me. Another Kanto native, but an ancient one that wasn't usually referred to as a legendary. But it was rare, nonetheless, having been resurrected from a fossil containing its DNA—

Resurrected from a fossil containing its DNA? I looked back at Silver, seeing him slumping against the wall, looking particularly uncomfortable now. Perfect.

"Aerodactyl, please work with me!" I called to my second teammate. "I know I didn't catch you, but I'm here to help!" The angry look on its face lingered for a moment, but once again this Pokémon seemed to understand the situation. So, it flapped its wings and turned back around onto the field, ready to battle. "You can learn Fire Fang, right? Let's fight fire with fire!"

"Great, Heatran! When it's close enough, use Stone Edge again!" Clay ordered, but there was already something different about him. The smile fell off his face, and he looked more serious than I had ever seen him. So focused, so intense. It was almost nice to see, just like I was battling Silver back in the day.

"Dodge up when you attack!"

Aerodactyl swooped down, opening its jaws and biting into Heatran before kicking off of it and flying back up, narrowly escaping Heatran's attack. I cheered, telling Aerodactyl to do it one more time. Articuno had weakened Heatran enough that Aerodactyl's powerful attacks did enough damage to knock it out quickly. And it did.

Clay returned Heatran to its Poké Ball, sending another Pokémon out into the field. This time he sent out a Regice. I had a type advantage now, but it took more than that to win. It also had a type advantage. It would take a lot more strategy to win this round.

"Fire Fang again!"

"Ice Beam!"

Aerodactyl flew down, its jaws blazing, and flew right by Regice with such speed that I didn't even think it attacked. But Regice stumbled, falling back against the ground before rebounding quickly. An Ice Beam shot at Aerodactyl, clipping one of its wings, and it fell down a few hundred feet before flying back up towards the ceiling.

"Use Rock Slide and knock it out!" I ordered, and Aerodactyl pushed Regice against the ground, flying up and tackling it with its rock-hard body. Regice still managed to hold on, however, and Clay sent another Ice Beam at Aerodactyl. It wasn't going to last much longer, but neither was Regice. The next move won the round.

"Fire Fang one more time!"

Before Regice could attack again, Aerodactyl flew into it one more time with its fiery jaws, and Regice fell back against the ground again. This time, it didn't get back up, and Clay was forced to recall it to its Poké Ball, looking slightly defeated. I was so close.

Just one more. One more, and I win. One more.

My heart sunk a little when I Darkrai came out of Clay's last Poké Ball. It didn't have any type advantage, and neither did Aerodactyl, but there was just something about its presence that made me shudder. The Pokémon inside of me were probably just reacting, though I didn't know particularly why.

"Just use Dark Pulse to finish it!"

And it did. Aerodactyl went down in a second as the wave passed through the field. I felt even worse now, entirely discouraged. But I couldn't! No, I couldn't feel like this! I had to keep going or else I was going to lose, and that was not something I could afford right now. It wasn't something that Silver could afford.

"Go!" I called out to my last Pokémon. And suddenly, when I saw who it was, I felt so cheerful again. Even though I didn't have the type advantage, and even though I couldn't foresee the outcome of this battle, I knew I was going to win. "Lugia!"

It recognized me immediately despite the differences in me now, and when I bowed to it, it bowed right back. I had chosen not to capture it all those years ago when it first appeared before me in the Whirl Islands, though I respected it immensely. I just figured that it would want to live in freedom instead of as my partner.

But here we were now.

"Let's do this, Lugia. Let's finish it, okay? Aeroblast!"

Lugia didn't even move; it just opened its mouth, a beam of pressured air shooting out towards Darkrai at an incredible speed, giving the Dark-type no time to dodge. It fell back, tumbling over pathetically. There it was. Just like I remembered it. It was good to know that one of us hadn't changed.

"No!" Clay shouted, looking desperate now. Come on, something had to be breaking in him. There had to be some change. Mew had to wake up. It was a part of Clay now, so it had to still be there. "Dark Pulse!"

The wave passed through the room again, but I was feeling way too hopeful to be affected now. Lugia endured the hit gracefully, shaking its head and blinking it off. "Good job, Lugia. Can you use a Hydro Pump for me now?"

"Dark Pulse again!"

Lugia was faster. Instead of letting out a beam of pressured air, this time it shot a high-pressured jet of water at Darkrai, throwing it backwards once again. Clay looked surprised by this, though he knew what I was about to do, and his face fell. It wasn't quite over yet, but I was getting close. He knew where this was heading.

"One more Aeroblast!"

Darkrai fell, and I won. I sighed, so relieved by this, and watched Clay return the Darkrai to its Ball with a saddened face. For a moment, he looked so _human_.

And then he started laughing.

"You're not done yet. You haven't won," Clay shouted, laughing loudly from the other side of the field. I furrowed my eyebrows, looking at the Lugia in front of me. We had won, hadn't we? My three Pokémon had defeated Clay's three. So, what in the world was he talking about? Maybe nothing had happened, after all. Nothing happened…

"We had a deal, Clay!"

Clay laughed again, sounding blatantly amused by my retort, and backed further and further away from the field. He cocked his head to the side, his eyes firm despite his laughter. Growing nervous, I returned Lugia to its Poké Ball, walking away from the field towards Silver. There was something wrong here. Clay wasn't listening to me. What the hell was going on now?

"I can't give you access to the main computer. I'm not in control of that. I can't help you," Clay admitted, and I felt my heart drop. If he didn't have access, who did? "I told you that you'd love this: I'm not actually the boss of Team Xana. I've been playing you all this time. You still have one more person to go through if you want to beat us."

"_What?_" Silver and I looked at each other, and I was surprised that even Silver didn't know. Clay had been playing us hard. "Then, who is it?"

"It's—"

A loud bang cut Clay off, and he looked up to the rocky roof of the arena. A dark slate fell down, down… right into the spot where I had been standing not too long ago. I screamed, backing further away towards the wall behind us, pulling Silver with me. Clay, though he was far away, still looked horrified by this.

But he was a good actor, wasn't he?

There was a louder moan from the top of the arena, and seconds later a waterfall of rocks cascaded out of the roof. Silver, without hesitating a moment longer, teleported out of the arena and brought us to safety in the Science Labs.

… I just didn't really know how safe we actually were anymore.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I didn't write "First" too long ago. Less than a year ago. But it is amazing how much my writing has improved since then. Even though sometimes I say, "Oh my goodness, this chapter sucks", I still think there's an improvement from the chapter before. And that's really amazing to see.

I always hate battle scenes, though. That never changes. I really just think I do a pathetic job of writing them. XD

Who is the real boss? And was that cave-in planned or just a coincidence? Find out in the next installment of "Stockholm", January 29, 2011!

Haha, dramatic enough for you? ;)

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

**Chapter Fourteen**

"That asshole!" Silver shouted to no one, though several people around us began to stare. I didn't entirely care; nothing really seemed to make sense anymore. Now that everything was finally coming together, it was all falling apart all over again. There was no break. The pieces all fit. It was just the wrong puzzle.

But I felt positive about one thing: Mew had been evoked. Or, at the least, Clay felt some sort of sympathy for Silver and me.

"No. It wasn't Clay who did that." I touched Silver's arm, and he froze where he was. "Clay wasn't the one who made the ceiling cave in, but he _did_ know that it was going to happen. That arena… it was for battling, certainly, but battling with enemies. Clay knew that the ceiling was going to fall because it was designed to do that. But he _saved_ me. Silver, he saved me. He started backing up, and then he sort of… tilted his head and held eye contact with me for a moment. And I just _knew_ that something was going to happen. He did that. He made me nervous, and he saved me."

Silver furrowed his eyebrows, but something seemed to pass through him that made him relax. His whole face dropped, looking so sad for a moment, and he nodded. "He kept one end of his deal, at least… The asshole…"

I narrowed my eyes, my voice quivering as I asked, "What?"

"He blocked out the thoughts about you." Silver crossed his arms, rolling his eyes. "Actually, he somehow completely shut me out. I can't see any of his thoughts anymore. But that doesn't mean I can stop thinking about it, Lyra. I just get so… _angry_ when I think about it, and I don't know why. I don't like to see you with him like that…"

"You mean like jealousy?" I asked, and Silver dropped his arms, gaping at me as if I had just said a naughty word. "Silver, I never _let_ Clay touch me, but if I wanted to get here—to make it to where we're standing right now alive—then I couldn't fight back. And I never intended to hurt you like this, so if you could… just calm down, I know we can work this out. If we're going into this blindly, I don't want to fight you, too."

Silver shook his head at me, and I sighed. "I'll try not to think about it… but I'm not jealous."

I grabbed his shirt, pulling him towards me and kissing him. If he wasn't jealous, then he wouldn't kiss me back. But there he was, holding my body against his and kissing me back with more fervor than that first time we kissed. He didn't push me away, and he didn't resist, giving us just a moment to validate his jealousy.

"Yeah," I added with a wink as I pulled away from him, "you are."

But this wasn't a time to be making out with Silver, and I knew that. We had more important things to worry about, like who the hell the real boss was. If Clay wasn't the leader of Team Xana, than who was? Had all the information in that computer data base been a lie? Were the people I thought I could trust complete liars? Allison and Henry… even Will. Did I need to question their back stories and find out the truth?

Team Xana was definitely different than I ever expected. False leaders, liars, murderers… they really had it all. And I was at a complete loss at what to do. Find the real boss of Team Xana—and then what? Tell them to do what Clay couldn't? But if Clay wasn't really the leader, then who knew who really was?

He had been so close to telling me. I just needed to find him again.

"Hello," a familiar accented voice rang behind us, and Silver and I turned to face Allison. She shoved her hands into the pockets of her lab coat, smiling at us like an old friend. I couldn't force myself to smile back. "You look lost. Aren't you supposed to be in the PCC, Silver? And… Lyra, you should be there, too, no? Don't let Clay find you wandering around—"

"Clay's not the boss," I interrupted, unable to stop myself. Allison's face lost all expression, and for a moment nothing seemed to resonate with her. But she furrowed her eyebrows, shaking her head and laughing quietly for a moment before smiling at me again. How could I tell if she was faking or not?

"Of course he is! He's the one who founded Team Xana… if he wasn't the boss, then… who would be? Oh, Lyra, you're so funny!" Allison laughed again, looking at Silver with an amused expression. He just stared at her, his face completely serious in contrast to hers. "Where do you even come up with stories like that?"

I sighed, letting my head fall for a moment before staring at the blonde again. "What if he was lying? What if he was playing with us this entire time? It wouldn't be so unlike him to do that, right? Especially if they real boss wanted to hide his or her identity. Who would you guess is the actual boss? Just… take one guess," I ordered, and Allison gasped.

Narrowing her eyes, she took a step back before pointing straight at me. "You."

Silver grabbed my arm, tugging me towards him and shaking his head. "It's not Lyra. I mean…" He paused, looking at me. "She's just not. Why would you even guess her? She's the only chance we have to take back our lives, and she's been fighting for us this entire time. If she was the boss, she wouldn't have—"

"Then, why do I have to listen to her now?" Allison retorted, her voice becoming more accented as she snapped. "Why did she come here when we were so close to finishing up? Why did she get chosen by Clay? Why was she the only Champion who was spared when we fought them? How did she escape? I can't believe I didn't realize it sooner." She back up further, continuing to point at me. "Henry! Henry!"

"No!" I yelled, but it was too late. Allison turned on her heel, running away from Silver and me towards her fellow Admin. I spun around, glancing at the people who were all staring at me now. The whispers turned into monotonous lies, spreading around like a disease. The talking grew louder and louder, and I grabbed my hair, tugging at it as I turned back to Silver.

"It's not me. You know it's not me." I stared at Silver, waiting for a response, any response. He was silent for a moment, watching me as though I was just a stranger. Finally, he nodded, grabbing my arm and forcing us out of the Science Labs and into the PCC.

The same dark atmosphere of the PCC felt even worse today. If I didn't find out who the real boss of Team Xana was soon, everyone was going to think it was me. And it was probably easier to take me down than it was to take Clay down, considering I hadn't set up any protections like he had. If they all wanted to get rid of me now, I didn't see anything stopping them.

"Look at _this_." Clay smiled at me as he popped up in front of us, looking particularly amused by my situation. "You just got yourself into a bit of a bad situation, didn't you? Well, don't worry. Seeing as you're the girl in charge, I'm sure you can work it out just fine. Oh, and sorry about the ceiling in the arena. I didn't know about that."

"I'm not in charge—wait…" I stopped myself, taking a deep breath and calming myself. "Explain everything. It's story time."

Clay laughed, looking around the PCC. "I will. It's not like I really have a choice. But don't you think we should go somewhere a bit… less busy?" He gestured to the people wandering around doing their work, and I crossed my arms. After I was almost crushed to death in the arena, I really didn't want to go anywhere elusive.

So, I pulled us into the little cubby area where the computer controlling the Pokémon machine was set up. "Happy? Now spill. Who's the real boss of Team Xana? And who are you if you're not really the leader? And why did he try to kill me if the whole point of my being here is to send me to space and stuff? What's going on?"

Clay sighed, folding his hands together and gesturing to the rotting chair. "You should probably take a seat. This is a lot to digest."

I rolled my eyes, doing as he said, and he grinned. "I really am the founder. This organization was my idea… but not all of it. When I originally founded Team Xana, I just wanted to continue my parents' work. Since the boss of Team Galactic, Cyrus, was stuck in Distortion World, no one else would step up and take over. So… I did by forming an entirely new group with more… _humble_ ideals. There wouldn't be any stealing, any murder, anything criminal. I simply envisioned joining everyone together and visiting new galaxies. There are plenty of other galaxies out there, so I didn't see the necessity in creating a new one.

"Well, I tried recruiting members, and a lot of the old Galactic members had given up caring, and most of them told me that they were too old to care about any of that anymore. But, really, they didn't want to work with me while their boss was stuck in Distortion World. And I, of course, had no idea how to get Cyrus out of Distortion World, so I figured this whole 'Team Xana' thing was just a mistake." He sighed, shaking his head.

"So, I left Sinnoh and came here to Johto. Since I was so young—just your age, Lyra—everyone kind of laughed at me when I asked them to help me. A lot of people had heard about Team Galactic and considered them a criminal organization, so people were criticizing me for trying to recreate it, even though I swore I would use safer tactics.

"And then, Lindsey came around. She was far more aggressive than I was, and she forced all these people to join. I was intimidated by her, and since she was so much older than I was, I was afraid of being rude to her. Actually," Clay continued, folding his hands together, "I was just afraid of her in general. And when she told me to step down, I did."

I furrowed my eyebrows, staring back out into the main PCC area in search for the woman. Lindsey? I knew she was horrible, but everything—all of this—was her idea? Why hadn't I seen this before? Clay even told me once that Lindsey was the reason they hurt people. Why didn't I take the hint that she was the one I should have been fighting?

"She came up with this 'Pokémon Conversion' idea, but she wasn't nearly as smart as me or the other members. So, she had me oversee the designing and basic concept. And once we had that… everything fell into place. We stole Pokémon, and all of the Legendaries came to save them… so we got them, too. And once we became so powerful, she started all the raids, gathering only the strongest members and discarding the rest. She even disposed of some of the members we already had if she dubbed them weak. I watched everyone come and go."

Clay looked at me, all amusement completely gone from his face. "It was for her own safety. That's why she lied. She gave me Mew, and told me to pretend to be the boss to protect her. Because if she went down, we went down. Since I was the founder, it made sense that I would be boss, and no one would ever know the difference. But she's always had control. Everything I did was part of her plan… and she never took a Pokémon, so she didn't have to actually listen to me. Just like you were safe from me before, Lyra."

I held up my hand, signaling for him to pause. "Wait. She never took a Pokémon's abilities? But I thought she had Cynthia's Garchomp…"

"No, she never—"

Before I knew what was happening, two thin vines flew out of nowhere, wrapping themselves around Clay's throat. He stopped talking, pulling at the vines as they lifted him off the ground, and I screamed, rising to my feet and pulling on the vines. I knew if he teleported away, whatever those vines were from—a Pokémon?—would come with him, so we had to pull them off of him!

"Clay!"

We had to pull them off of him… we had to…

He stopped moving just as a Venusaur stepped forward, revealing itself to us. And standing right next to it, petting the beast, Lindsey frowned at us, her eyebrows knit tightly together. The Venusaur dropped Clay, and he fell in front of me, his body unmoving.

Lindsey stepped forward, looking down at Clay and shaking her head disappointingly.

"He was talking too much," was all she said.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Early update (well, a day early, so it's not that cool). I was actually planning on updating again tomorrow or Sunday… but I don't think that's going to happen. I unfortunately need to finish my stuff for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest, so I'll update again when that's all said and done. So, sorry, but another week before the next update. Saturday, February 5th. If I update early again, whoo-hoo!

TWO more chapters!

If anyone was confused by the ending, I understand. A lot of information was thrown at you at once, and then the whole part with Lindsey and the Venusaur happened really quickly, too. So, if anyone is confused, I understand.

Plus… I didn't want to be gross. So, like… I didn't want to go into details on what exactly happened to Clay. But the fact of the matter is—Lindsey just killed him.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.


	15. Chapter Fifteen

**Chapter Fifteen**

I knelt down beside Clay's unmoving body, shaking him and praying that he'd start up again. For someone who had been so evil and sadistic, he wasn't the bad guy at all. He'd been a puppet just like I had, and though he could have died instead of allowing Lindsey to take over, I understood his actions. Maybe he wanted to take Lindsey down as much as the rest of us wanted to take him down. But I'd never know.

"Clay!"

No response. The lacerations across his throat had killed him, the Venusaur's vines crushing his air paths until he couldn't breathe ever again. And now he wouldn't. Lindsey had killed her own puppet, cutting the strings off and letting him fall without anything to break it. Clay was gone, never to be a problem or a solution again.

Lindsey didn't wait for me to rise back to my feet before she spoke again, her voice hissing like a serpent searching for its next meal. "Who's next?" She put her hands on her hips, glancing between Silver and me before finally resting her eyes on mine. "I tried to have you eliminated during that ridiculous battle, but Clay got in the way. Now that he's not here, I can continue."

"Why?" I demanded, hoping that she wasn't as intelligent as Clay. Clay never spoke anything of any plans, dropping only hints and secrets when he felt it most convenient for him. But Lindsey… somehow, I didn't see her as being quite so tricky. "I thought you needed me. Why would you go through the trouble of giving me Pokémon abilities and keeping me around if you're just going to dispose of me now?"

Lindsey smiled—that same, terrifying smile that I remembered so vividly from earlier. There was something much more frightening about Lindsey than there had ever been with Clay. While Clay was clean-cut and handsome, with a smile that most girls would trust, Lindsey was wild and ugly, her crooked yellow teeth similar to those of a witch.

"I needed you when you cooperated. But you are completely out of control now, and I just can't have that." She looked down at Clay, retaining her smile as her eyes narrowed. "You are replaceable. I can always find someone else to send out into the other galaxies. Sure, it may bump the project back a little bit, but that's no problem. I know the problem, and I can fix it. You're not needed anymore."

She held her hands up, pointing a finger at me, and the Venusaur cried out. I dodged, throwing myself towards Lindsey to try to take her out. I only caught her arm, swinging her around into the crowd of people. No one reacted, returning to their work after staring for only a moment. There was nothing.

"You just killed your fake boss!" I shouted, pointing at Clay. People walked between Lindsey and I, and she steadied herself, glancing at me between people. "How do you expect to run Team Xana now? Your safety net is gone! If you used him for your protection, you have no one else now! You killed him, and everyone here knows it!"

"No one knows! Look at these people!" Lindsey yelled back, cackling like a witch. I looked around as people continued to do their jobs, walking like zombies towards their destinations. "We have all of these people programmed to do their jobs. They are very obedient. Even with Clay gone, they still have to do their jobs. And since the only witnesses will be eliminated, I have no problem. I think it's time Will got a promotion."

I gasped, running towards Lindsey again, bumping all of the people in my path out of my way. I knocked her to the ground this time, falling down on top of her and yanking at her hair. "Leave Will alone! Leave everyone alone! I won't let you hurt anyone else. You've killed too many people, you psycho! It's time you get what's coming to you!"

Lindsey just smiled, holding her hands above her head as I pulled her hair. Before I knew what was happening, I was scooped up by two thick vines around my waist. Out of surprise, I let go of Lindsey's hair, grabbing the vines and trying to pull them off of me instead. But as I tugged at them, the vines flipped, holding me upside down.

"Clay had to give you the hint, didn't he? Things would be so much easier if he just let the arena collapse on the two of you," Lindsey said, sounding innately bitter. "But you're asking for it. You couldn't have just obeyed orders. Your dear mother had to suffer because she wouldn't give you up. And I hate when people don't obey my orders. You'll go the same way she did. Painfully."

All of the blood was rushing to my head, but that didn't stop me from feeling my face heat up in pure anger. "You murderer! You're disgusting! You think it's right to just kill people like that! You killed my mother! You killed her! Do you even feel remorse? Do you even feel for all the people and Pokémon you killed? You're a murderer!"

Lindsey's face contorted into a smile again, and as she rose back to her feet, she laughed. "I don't feel remorse for killing pests… weaklings. Imagine an infestation in your home. The world was just infested with too many pathetic people who deserved to die a pathetic, painful, permanent death. And those strong enough to deserve to live only could if they obeyed my orders, through Clay or otherwise. If they didn't, they get shut down. Just like Clay and just like you and just like Silver. You all do not deserve to live." She laughed again, and I gritted my teeth, trying to pull myself up. "Kill her, Venusaur."

"No!" Silver shouted, and I closed my eyes, feeling the rush of movement around me. There had to be a way to stop this before I—

"Venusaur, listen to me! I'm not the enemy here!" I called to the Pokémon, opening my eyes back up and hoping that it would listen to me. The thing was… Lindsey didn't have a Pokémon ability in her. And Clay had said that the real Pokémon listened to all the Team Xana members because of those abilities. Plus, given that I was Champion, Pokémon were more apt to listen to me.

The legendaries did. So, why couldn't Venusaur? I had the advantage here.

"Kill her, now!" Lindsey screamed, and the people around her just continued to walk. How could they ignore this?

The ground continued to come closer, and I yelled out to it again, begging it to stop—to save me, to save everyone here. The Venusaur obeyed me, and I bounced as it stopped throwing me inches before the ground. I sighed in relief, reaching down towards the ground as the Pokémon loosened its grip on me.

"Try again," Lindsey snapped, walking over to me and stepping on my hands. I cried out in pain as she twisted her foot, digging it into my fingers. I could feel my bones crush beneath her weight, and I let tears fall from my eyes towards them.

In a flash, Silver was there, pushing Lindsey off of me and slugging her in the stomach. I took my hands away from the ground, letting Venusaur's vines just hold me upside down some more. My fingers couldn't bend, and I couldn't feel them anymore. No pain, no feeling, nothing. Just existence. Like always.

"Kill her!" Lindsey shouted as Silver went in to punch her again. Before I could even react, before Silver could even reach out to grab me, Venusaur flung me, sending me flying towards the dirt wall. I heard a definite _crack!_ as I collided with the wall, falling back down towards the ground again. I landed on my stomach, the wind completely knocked out of me. There was nothing I could feel anymore.

Silver abandoned Lindsey, running over to me instead. I moaned, unable to move my body at all, but I was pleased when I could feel Silver grab my hands. And it _hurt_.

"Lyra!"

I could hear Lindsey growl, stomping over towards me. Opening my eyes, I saw her pull Silver away, staring down at me with a malicious frown. "Why don't you ever _die_? How do you always survive? That should have killed you," she hissed, and I didn't reply. I couldn't find my voice, and there was no way I could fight anymore. If I survived that, I wouldn't survive much more.

"Leave her alone. Your fight is with us now," a different voice said, but I couldn't turn my neck to see the speaker. The voice was familiar enough to me now, anyway. "You may have all of these workers under your control still, but we aren't. We know what you're doing, and we are done obeying orders."

"And we won't let you hurt Lyra or any of us again," another voice said, this one heavily accented.

"You were sneaky," a third person commented, his voice shaking. "But we're setting everyone free."

_You may have all of these workers under your control… But we're setting everyone free._ Was that their plan? How did they expect to go about doing that? They weren't the leaders here. If they wanted to set everyone free, the only one who could do that was… me. I had to set them free. Why hadn't I done that sooner?

"Stop working." My voice was barely loud enough to be heard by even Lindsey, squeaky at best. "Stop working… come on, stop working." It got louder and louder, and I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to force it to work. "Everybody, stop working. You don't have to work. Do whatever you want now. You're not bound here. Stop working."

The noise of the bustling crowd ceased so suddenly that I was surprised anyone had heard me at all. But all of those people, with their drab outfits and sullen expressions, stopped where they were. I opened my eyes again, sighing with relief, and watched as Lindsey turned around, staring at her workers in awe.

"Perfect," one of the male voices said as someone knelt down beside me. "No, wait, Silver. Don't touch her. She could've broken something. You don't want to accidentally make it worse, okay?"

Using my elbows instead of my hands, I pushed myself up, groaning in pain as I moved. "No, I'm fine," I tried to tell them, watching as Silver snaked a hand to my back to help me. Now I felt it. The pain in my hands, the pain in my leg. No physical pain had ever been as bad as this, but I still needed to stop Lindsey.

I could see them all now. Henry, Allison, Will… they were all here to help me. And they weren't alone. All of the people from the Science Labs, still wearing their white lab coats, surrounded them, and all of the people from the PCC were staring now. Lindsey was the only one standing alone in the crowd now.

She glared at me as I sat up, backing away with her lips pursed. "This is _not_ over. I still have the control of the team. I still have the Pokémon. I am _not_ done yet." She laughed now, shaking her head angrily. "Venusaur! Destroy all of them!"

"No. We're done. We're done!" My voice was calm, but I closed my eyes in fear of what might happen anyway. When nothing did happen, I opened them back up, looking at the people staring. "I don't… Lindsey, you're finished. No one will listen to you anymore. You've destroyed these people's homes… their families… their lives. You have no idea. You walk around, and you don't even care. No one will listen."

She looked so frightening, but I couldn't look away. "They will listen when I recalibrate their abilities!"

"They won't! You're not hurting anyone else anymore. Got that? I may have never been good at revenge, but I sure as hell am not going to let you get away." I narrowed my eyes, unable to really do anything else, and everyone around me closed in on Lindsey. Silver stayed beside me, his hand still on my back.

"You may not be good at revenge, but I am," Allison said, her accented voice cold. Henry and Will grabbed Lindsey, and Allison glanced back at me with a smile. "I'm sorry for accusing you, Lyra. But I had a feeling if I accused you, you would find the real boss a whole lot faster. Good for you, Champion. You did it. Now… allow us to do the rest of the work. We'll fix those hands—and that leg—in a minute."

They all walked away, carrying a thrashing Lindsey into the crowd of people surrounding us. I watched, turning my head carefully, making sure nothing there was broken.

It was a horrible thing, but I wouldn't feel all that bad if Lindsey died. But Clay… he was still laying there… he hadn't been all bad, had he?

"Hey," Silver started, and I looked at him now. He snaked his arm around my waist now, his face so close to mine that our noses were almost touching. "You didn't give up on me, after all. You said there was no point in trying, but… you did. And you won. Lyra…" His eyes searched mine for a moment, and I sighed. "We're free."

So, he kissed me, keeping that hand around my waist to hold me steady, making sure not to move me in any uncomfortable manner. Because, the fact of the matter was, everything was still killing me. I enjoyed kissing him, of course, but… when your leg was practically on fire and you couldn't run your broken fingers through your man's hair… it just wasn't the same.

"Except…" Silver pulled away from me, his eyebrows furrowed. "There is still one problem. We have to get all of these people back outside, and we haven't been out there in quite some time. We don't even know what's left. And… we still have Pokémon abilities in us. We can't act like we don't. All of those Pokémon are dead. We barely have any left."

Getting people back outside and settling them would be no problem. I knew what was up there now, and while things looked pretty terrible, it was manageable. But dealing with the Pokémon abilities… that was an entirely different thing. At least I wasn't like Lindsey or Clay. If I had control, I could let them run free. As for the dead Pokémon… that was a lost cause.

Although…

"What if I said I could bring those Pokémon back?" I asked, and Silver shook his head at me, his eyes full of disbelief.

"I'd say you're crazy."

I inhaled sharply, trying to fight the pain coursing through my body. He reacted, looking as pained as I felt, and I forced a smile. There was nothing like pure physical pain, but sometimes, emotional pain just beat that. Everything I had felt while I was here could never be matched. Watching my Pokémon die, seeing Silver as a member of Team Xana. But I could fix that.

"And I'd tell you that I am crazy. But I'm still right."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Early update again! I'm all good to go with the ABNA contest, and I finished my homework! Whoo-hoo!

One more chapter. Phew. I am actually really sad about that, but I'm still excited to be moving onto "Play Mates and Dream Dates". It's time I write something a little bit… happier, don't you think?

This chapter actually didn't play out like I planned. I mean… I feel like it's a crappy chapter. And I'm not going to say I'm okay with that. But… I mean, after working on my ABNA novel for so long, maybe my writing got worse, haha.

Okay, Saturday for real this time. Last chapter: Saturday, February 5th.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.


	16. Chapter Sixteen

**Chapter Sixteen**

Before doing anything else, I requested to move Clay to a more peaceful area. We very well couldn't leave his body there in the middle of the PCC, and I wanted to make sure he was taken care of properly. He deserved peace as much as anybody else here in the headquarters, and I needed to ensure that he got it.

We buried him in the earth beneath the tiled floors of the Science Labs. Since he was the one with the dream to go into space, the one who wasn't all bad, he deserved to go in the place he actually wanted to create. There would always be this tiny reminder of him here, and even once we abandoned this place, he'd be left behind.

I was useless, of course, in helping with the task of moving him. My broken hands prevented me from carrying anything or digging up the tiles, and my broken femur prevented me from standing. But once Clay was taken care of, I was next. And I made sure it worked out that way. I didn't want to be more of a concern than Clay.

Henry, his fatherly nature sort of taking over, bandaged my hands in makeshift casts, promising me that once we got out of the underground, he would walk me to the nearest hospital and make me real casts with the materials there. As for my leg, that was more difficult. But he did the best he could wrapping it in spite of my discomfort.

There were no crutches down in the headquarters, either, so I managed with a random plank that I used like a crutch. It was annoying—and painful—and I was tired after walking the short distance to the Science Labs to make sure everything was figured out for Clay. There just wasn't really anything I could do about it.

Once everything was figured out and my broken bones were temporarily mended, my job began. I knew exactly how to revitalize all of the Pokémon within us, but I didn't know how to make it work. I had never been a scientist, and I only knew of this method of revitalization through stories. But I would make it work.

I began heading back to the PCC, using my makeshift crutch to carefully avoid putting weight on my leg. But I couldn't hold onto the crutch because of my broken hands, so I had to lean on it and push it with my arm instead. It took forever to get anywhere, and it hurt so badly that I almost felt like walking on my broken leg would be easier.

Opening the door to the Science Labs was even harder. The heavy door separating the hallway and the room was nearly impossible to open without hands and one leg, but I pushed on it with all my might. I would have to open it to get to the PCC. I wobbled dangerously as I pushed on it with my body, but before I fell, an arm caught me, steadying me and holding me.

"Hey." Silver touched my face lightly, his fingers brushing my cheek. "You don't need to do everything on your own, you know. Especially in this condition." I just sighed, and he held my arm tighter. "Just tell me where you want to go, and I'll bring you there. I'll make sure you get there unharmed."

I couldn't help but believe this comment was a double entendre, a literal meaning and a figurative one behind his words. But I just watched him, seeing his red eyes—so normal after being so angry—search mine. Everything seemed so right again. But there was still work to do. I wasn't going to forget about that.

"The PCC," I told him. "Take me to the PCC, please."

We vanished from the doorway of the Science Labs and reappeared in the PCC beside the computer controlling the main machine. I smiled, glancing at the keys of the computer before looking back at Silver. He was right; I definitely couldn't do this alone, especially when I had no knowledge of how to reverse the computer.

I gestured to the keyboard, unable to point with my broken fingers. "Can you log into this computer?" Silver nodded, typing something into the computer and hitting the return key. The screen flashed before loading into another screen. The data on all the Pokémon came up automatically, and I sighed.

"There's no way to get the exact same Pokémon out." I stared at the humming machine, trying to think of a way to make this work. It was impossible to reverse the procedure done on us. I knew that. But if there was a way to extract just a piece of the Pokémon from the human, then there had to be a chance. "Do you know about resurrection?"

Silver furrowed his eyebrows, crossing his arms at me. "Resurrection? Like with ancient Pokémon? Aerodactyl and Omanyte, Pokémon like that?"

"Exactly." If I could put my hands on my hips and appear smug, I would. But smiling smugly was the next best thing. "You know how they resurrect those Pokémon? They find the DNA from old fossils and stuff. Using whatever technology they use, they can bring those Pokémon back to life—kind of. It's not the exact Pokémon, but it's the same type."

Silver uncrossed his arms, realization lighting up his face. "Oh!"

"Right." I assumed he had figured it out. "So, since we have taken on the abilities of these Pokémon… we must have taken some of their DNA. There's no other way that's possible. Our DNA _fused_ with the DNA of the Pokémon, giving us superhuman powers that a normal person wouldn't have while not altering our bodies. The fusion is key."

Someone clicked their tongue behind us, and I wobbled around to look at Allison. She had a hand to her chin, looking as though she was seriously contemplating something. "Hmm, you have an interesting idea there," she finally said, and she shook her head. "But if they are fused together, there's no way you can resurrect the Pokémon."

"Allison! Where's Lindsey?" Silver took a step closer to Allison, and I narrowed my eyes. I didn't know what the hell Allison did to Lindsey, but she _had_ said that she was better at revenge than I was. Somehow, I didn't see that as a particularly good sign for Lindsey. But after all the people the evil woman had killed, maybe she deserved a dose of revenge aimed her way.

"She's not dead, if that's what you think." Allison put her arms back down by her sides, her eyes forming slits. "She's not good enough for that, and I'm not a killer like she is. We can't stoop down to her level. So, I just did what she did to you: I put her in the dungeon. And when we all get out of here, she can go to jail and stay in a real cell. But she doesn't deserve an _escape_. She deserves to think about what she's done."

I nodded, secretly thankful that Allison hadn't killed Lindsey. Because she was right: Allison wasn't a killer like Lindsey, and Lindsey wasn't good enough to deserve that escape. Spending time by herself and always remembering what she did sounded like the best idea to me. Because how many ways were there to make a person pay?

"Enough about that; she's taken care of, and that's all that matters." Allison crossed her arms, staring at me. "Tell me… how do you plan on bringing these Pokémon back? Your resurrection plan isn't going to work."

I furrowed my eyebrows, trying to think of something. Allison was a scientist—she could certainly help me out. I just didn't know how to work a resurrection machine or whatever it was that did the job. She could figure that out for me, especially as an engineer. If she couldn't figure it out, then I would have to.

"Okay. Think of a homogenous mixture like salt water. You can't just… pull the salt out of the water, and you can't filter it out." I sighed, trying to figure out how to work this out in my head. "So, the only way to get the salt out of the water is to boil it. Boil the water out, and you're left with salt every time. Just because it's a homogeneous mixture doesn't mean you can't separate the salt and the water."

Allison didn't look convinced. "So, you're saying we need to boil away our DNA?"

I shook my head, holding up one of my wrapped up hands. "I'm not saying that. But I am saying that because our DNA is fused together—kind of like a homogeneous mixture, it can't be separated through simple physical means—we can still separate it. I mean, with me, it will be really difficult… but if we can separate our DNA from the Pokémon's DNA, then we can use the DNA to resurrect the Pokémon. Otherwise it wouldn't work."

Silver looked mildly impressed, and Allison smiled, nodding.

"Yes… I see. Open your mouth." Allison reached into her pocket and pulled out a cotton swab, and I wondered how long she had been carrying that around with her. It seemed highly convenient, but I supposed those were the ways of a scientist. "Lyra, open your mouth. I'm going to try your plan, but I need some DNA."

I did as she said, and she stuck her cotton swab into my mouth, swirling it around for awhile before pulling it out and looking at the slimy stick. She walked over to the machine where the Poké Balls usually went and set the cotton swab down on a little Petri dish, loading it onto the conveyor belt and tapping the machine.

"It's not going to get the abilities out of us," I told Silver as Allison scrambled around the giant machine. "We have to live with those forever. Unfortunately, in order to extract all of the abilities from us, that would require separation for every strand of DNA we have. It would be impossible to do that. But… at least we can bring back what was lost."

Silver nodded, and we both turned to watch Allison. She finally walked back over to us, looking at the computer and typing something on the keyboard. She muttered something in another language, banging the rotting desk that the computer was on and sighing. But then, the screen flashed, and Allison whispered something else in the same foreign language.

"_Ja_!" she exclaimed, tapping the keyboard. "Okay, Lyra. I can set up this machine so that it can separate DNA. It's going to be tricky, but… I think I can do it. The Pokémon Conversion Unit is built to take abilities of a Pokémon and convert it into an obtainable energy, yes? This obtainable energy is just a charge of DNA—if the machine can convert this energy, it should be able to revert it. And once we do that, the process… well, it's not reversed, but… well, let's just try it. You have so many Pokémon abilities within you. The chances of this working—if it works on you, it will work on anyone."

Allison hurried away once again, grabbing an empty Poké Ball from the basket next to the machine and setting it in the spot where I had been to receive the abilities. She nodded to herself, and I could see her take a huge breath before jumping up onto the conveyor belt and leaning inside the machine.

Silver grabbed my shoulder as I reached forward, jerking my leg terribly, and I smiled back at him through gritted teeth. "Sorry. She makes me nervous going in there like that. We should at least shut this computer down so nothing bad happens… but…"

"Now you know how I feel every time you do something reckless," Silver muttered, and I had to strain to hear him. "Just ten times worse."

I stared at him, wanting to just forget about my broken hands and reach out and touch him. But before I could do anything, Allison screamed, and I jumped, dropping my crutch and stepping painfully on my broken leg. Silver grabbed my stick, handing it back to me before running over to the machine.

Allison came back out of the machine, jumping down off the conveyor belt with a grin on her face. "It was a mess in there. I got shocked," she explained, and I sighed in relief. "But I think I finished. I just had to reconnect a few wires and reset the download cord. We can test it now. If it doesn't work… no one gets hurt. It'll be fine."

Silver and Allison walked back over to the computer, and Allison pressed some more buttons on the keyboard. There was a load banging noise, and the conveyor belt with my Petri dish began to move. I held my breath, hoping that this worked. I didn't have any ideas otherwise. It _had_ to work.

There was a flash, and the computer made a _ding!_ noise. Silver walked over to the Poké Ball and took it, bouncing it from hand to hand as he walked over to us. He held it towards me, and I smiled, moving my bandaged hand in front of him. I wished I could be the one to send the Pokémon out, but it wasn't really an option.

"Can I request something?" Allison asked, and I nodded at her, grateful that she knew how to work all of this stuff. I owed her one. "Can we go to the surface? I haven't seen it in such a long time, and if this worked, the Pokémon will get to… live free. And even if it doesn't, at least we can go to the surface and see what has become of our world. I know you can't get up there too easily, but… I'll get everyone to help you."

I smiled, watching as her eyes lit up. "Yeah. That sounds like a great idea."

So, we all went. Every single person who had been a member of Team Xana walked up to the surface together, with the exception of Lindsey. It was punishment enough for her to miss the sight that everyone got to see together, to hear the excitement as we headed out. It was our world, not hers.

Allison took the Poké Ball, carrying carefully up the stairs like it was a fragile thing that could be broken easily. Silver and Will carried me up the stairs, one arm wrapped around each of their necks, and Henry stood behind us to make sure we didn't fall down the stairs.

The murmurs of excitement made _me_ excited, though I had been outside more recently than any of the others. There was just something wonderful about beginning again with everyone—something wonderful about being with Silver again after years of missing him. Even though we had lost so many, there was nothing like taking it all back.

Professor Elm's lab was still pitch black, the windows bordered with dust and wooden planks. I could barely see the tears in Silver's eyes as he glanced around, and I knew he didn't want me to see—but I did. I squeezed my arm against his neck, and he looked at me, a smile on his lips that was so unfamiliar to me.

"Okay," Allison muttered, reaching the door. She pushed on it with a sigh, opening the door and letting the white light of the sun illuminate the room. A few people gasped, but me… I just laughed, loving the feel of the warm sun as we stepped outside.

A few people ran free, heading out into New Bark Town as liberated souls. Others stood and basked in the sun, staring at the blue sky like something impossible and unreachable. Somehow, I figured they were okay with keeping it like that. Unreachable didn't mean forgotten. It just meant that it was something to be admired from afar.

I glanced around the town, looking to the left to see if I could find my house. There was a mess on the ground, a broken, pathetic heap of wood and plaster. And farther than that, Ethan's house, torn down just like mine. I frowned, shaking my head, but I wasn't brought down by this. It just meant a complete rebirth.

"Lyra?" Will smiled at me, and I nodded at him. "Do you mind if I go? Will you be okay?"

I pulled my arm away from him, laughing quietly. "Oh! Yeah, absolutely. You can go! Don't be kept here because of me."

Silver took over as my sole means of balance, and I smiled apologetically at him. Once we brought all the Pokémon back, I could find a hospital and get some real crutches to hold me up. The only problems were my hands, but casts could fix that for me.

"Ready?" Allison asked, holding the Poké Ball out. I swallowed, nodding.

She threw the Poké Ball up in the air, and I closed my eyes, hoping that something would come out of it. There was a loud popping noise, and I opened my eyes back up to see a Noctowl spread its wings as it escaped from the Poké Ball. It flapped them, flying higher and higher into the sky, and tears filled my eyes.

"It's my Noctowl…" I muttered, and Silver reached over and wiped a tear from my cheek.

Allison walked forward, watching my Noctowl fly in the sky, her eyes wide. She held her arms out, spinning around and laughing. "We did it! Lyra, you figured it out!"

I looked at Silver for a moment, turning carefully on my good leg and burying my face in his chest out of pure happiness. Everything that needed to be figured out had been… everything that had been such a mess before…we could fix it all. Sure, we were still mutant humans with strange abilities… but we could work with that. We didn't need to be confined by that anymore.

Silver touched my chin gently, pulling my face up towards him, and we just stared at each other for a moment. Noctowl flew directly above us, and I glanced up, watching as it swooped down towards the ground. As it flew out of sight, I looked back at Silver; I had a feeling he never looked away from me.

"Is it all right for me to say, 'I love you'?" I asked him, my voice quivering nervously.

"Well, I guess so," he replied before kissing me, picking me up off the ground so I didn't have to worry about my leg. I laughed, wrapping my arms around his neck again and kissing him back, everything so totally perfect for once.

He set me back down on the ground, and I hopped on my one leg with a smile. The Noctowl landed beside us, staring up at me expectantly. Before I knew what to do, Allison held the Poké Ball out to Silver, smiling at the two of us.

"I think this Noctowl belongs to Lyra. Now, come on… we have lots more Pokémon to bring back! We have to go catch everybody that just ran off." Allison rubbed the back of her neck, laughing quietly. "Didn't think about that." I giggled along with her, and Silver ruffled my hair.

"We have time," I replied, glancing around the town again as Noctowl pecked at my feet. "Let them be free for a little while longer. They haven't known it in a long time."

Allison stepped out towards the town again, folding her arms across her chest. "Yes, you're right. Let them know it now."

* * *

**Author's Note:** So, that's the end! Strange that Allison got the last word, but… I kind of like the way she summarized what everyone was feeling. I dunno. It seems to me like a weird line to end it on, but… I totally like it. Which is really weird because I don't usually like what I write, LOL!

I had a wonderful time writing this fanfiction, and I hope you all had a good time reading it. ("Good" might be the wrong word considering how angsty this fanfic was, but… oh well.)

Symbolism, symbolism! Did any of you notice some? And the theme? Did anyone catch that? Feel free to share ideas! :)

Thank you for reading, everyone! Onto "Play Mates and Dream Dates"!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.


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